Georgia Southern 61, Wofford 58

STATESBORO, Ga. – Anna Claire Knight drained a 3-pointer from the wing as the buzzer sounded to lift Georgia Southern to a 61-58 Southern Conference women’s basketball victory over Wofford Sunday afternoon in Hanner Fieldhouse.

The Eagles inbounded the ball under their own basket with 1.6 seconds to go. Knight came off a screen on the left wing, set her feet and the sophomore’s shot hit nothing but net.

Wofford overcame a 55-45 deficit in the last five minutes as Erin Frost hit two 3-pointers, and Jordan Frazier tied the game on a triple from the wing with 32 seconds left. Knight had a baseline jumper blocked but got her own rebound and Georgia Southern called timeout.

With the shot clock winding down, Alexis Sams grazed the rim on a drive to the hoop and the ball went out of bounds off of the Terriers, setting the stage for the game-winning play.

Knight finished with 16 points to lead the Eagles (3-14, 3-6 SoCon), and DuBose tallied 12 points and six rebounds. Meredyth Frye scored 11 points, and Jordi Cook added nine. The Eagles shot 42 percent from the floor and matched a season low with 11 turnovers.

Daniella Motley posted 22 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks and two steals for the Terriers (5-9, 0-6 SoCon). Rachel Brittenham finished with eight points and eight rebounds, and Frazier scored nine and added three assists.

With the Eagles trailing 7-6 early in the contest, DuBose scored five points, and Knight netted four in a 15-4 GSU run. A triple from the wing by Cook followed by a Wofford layup made the score 21-11 midway through the period.

A Brittenham 3-pointer from the top of the key capped a 7-2 run for the Terriers and trimmed the margin to four points, but Wofford got a layup for the Eagles, and they went into the locker room with a 32-26 advantage. GSU shot 52 percent from the floor in the period while holding Wofford to 36 percent.

The Terriers scored the first six points of the second half to erase the deficit, but Georgia Southern responded with 13-3 run to retake control of the game. Knight and Cook hit triples during the run, and Frye’s conventional 3-point play made the score 45-35 6:56 into the second half.

Elon 63, College of Charleston 56

CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Elon women’s basketball team avenged its only loss of the Southern Conference season with a 63-56 win today, Jan. 20, over College of Charleston in TD Arena. The Phoenix has now won six straight and improve to 10-7 overall and 7-1 in SoCon play, while the Cougars fall to 7-10 (3-5 SoCon).

Elon finished 24-of-54 from the field for a 44 percent shooting mark and shot 38 percent from beyond the arc. CofC went 19-of-63 for a 30 percent clip and only made seven of its 30 three-point attempts. The Phoenix forced 20 Cougar turnovers and turned them into 26 points, while also winning the rebounding battle, 43-40.

Kelsey Evans scored a game-high 19 points and hauled down eight boards. The senior tied Elon’s all-time blocked shots record with her one block of the game to reach 197 for her career.

Ali Ford recorded 13 points for the Phoenix after going 3-of-4 from long distance and dishing out four assists. Shannen Cochraham posted a new career-high of 10 points, while Shon Redmond finished with a game-high five assists.

Elon opened its scoring attack with a three by Ford, which moved her into the SoCon’s top-10 all-time scoring list. With the game tied at seven-all, the Phoenix used a 7-0 run to take its first significant lead of the game, 14-7, with 12:33 left in the half.

Fouls and turnovers limited the maroon and gold for a time in the first frame and allowed the Cougars to slip back in the game and pull within one, 18-17. A steal and fast break layup by Kelsey Harris helped Elon get back its groove and regain a five-point edge, 22-17, with 7:43 to play.

Back-to-back threes by Zora Stephenson and baskets by both Cochraham and Sam Coffer capped a 10-0 run for the Phoenix to go up by 12, 32-20. Elon took its largest lead of the half of 14 after a deep jumper by Harris made it a 38-22 game with just over a minute until the break. CofC scored five straight to make it an 11-point edge for the Phoenix, 38-27, at halftime.

Elon shot 53 percent from the field in the first 20, including 57 percent from long distance after making 4-of-7 threes. The Cougars struggled to make shots with a 24 percent shooting percentage in the first frame.

CofC came out strong in the second half, scoring the first seven points to cut its deficit to four, 38-34, and force an early Elon timeout. The Phoenix then used a 12-5 run, capped by an impressive play that ended with a Harris layup after a pass from Ford, which put the maroon and gold up by 11, 50-39.

With just over six minutes to play, the Cougars pulled within two of the Phoenix, 53-51, but Elon responded immediately with a three by Ford (her third of the day) to make it a five-point game.

Holding the same advantage of five with less than a minute to play, the Cougars attempt at a three failed and Elon was able to preserve the win with free throws by Ford to take a seven-point victory.

Davidson 63, Samford 51

DAVIDSON, N.C. –  Davidson put four players in double figures, led by Laura Murray’s game-high 20, and the ‘Cats shot 52.2 percent in the second half on its way to a 63-51 win over Samford Sunday afternoon in Southern Conference women’s basketball action in John M. Belk Arena.

Davidson (9-8, 6-1 SoCon) outscored the Bulldogs 37-22 in the second half as it came back from a 29-26 halftime deficit. The Wildcats hit 12-for-23 from the field, including three triples, and went 10-for-14 at the line. On the other side of the ball, the ‘Cats defense held Samford to just five second-half field goals and forced 11 turnovers.

Murray reached the 20-point mark for the second time this year and was joined in the double-digit scoring column by Sophia Aleksandravicius (11 points), Barbara Sitton (season-high 11) and Hannah Early (10). It’s the first time since Jan. 30, 2012 vs. Furman Davidson had four double-figure scorers.

Krista Stricklin led the Bulldogs (9-8, 6-2 SoCon) with 16 points, hitting 5-of-8 shots including three from behind the arc. Hannah Dawson had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Down by three at the break, Davidson used a 16-7 run in the early goings of the second half to grab a 42-36 lead after an Early trey at the 10:52 mark. The lead would grow to 10 (48-38) on a Sitton layup a few minutes later and the Wildcats would maintain a lead of at least six points the rest of the way.

The first half saw both teams start out cold, hitting just 2-of-16 shots combined. Davidson got going though with a 13-5 run that was capped off by back-to-back fastbreak points from Lillian McCabe and Early for a 17-8 lead.

Samford countered with an 18-2 run, holding Davidson to just one field goal over a seven-minute span to grab a 26-19 lead at the 2:07 mark.

Murray, who had 14 of her 20 points in the field half, got Davidson right back in it with a quick seven straight points to tie things up with under a minute to go, before the Bulldogs went into the break up 29-26 after a Dawson three-point play.

Davidson finished the game shooting 42.6 percent, while Samford was held to 31.9 percent. The rebounding edge went to Samford at 37-31, but the ‘Cats picked up 16 steals and scored 17 points off Samford’s 21 turnovers.

Appalachian State 81, UNCG 58

BOONE, N.C. - A dominant second-half effort helped Appalachian State University women's basketball to a 81-58 win over Southern Conference foe UNCG on Sunday at the Holmes Center.

The Mountaineers (12-3, 6-1 SoCon) trailed by as many as nine points in an uncharacteristically sloppy first half, but were able to regain momentum and down the Spartans (3-13, 0-7) for the seventh-straight time.

UNCG came out firing in the first half, scoring the first points on a three-pointer from Lucy Mason and eventually building an 18-9 lead with 11:21 left in the first half.

Appalachian State would respond with five-straight points to pull within four (18-14), but the Spartans were again able to extend the lead to eight points (22-14) with just over nine minutes remaining.

The Mountaineers would come to life after that, reeling off an impressive 17-2 over the next four minutes to take a 31-24 lead and were never in danger after that as they took a 36-31 lead into the locker room.

It would be all Appalachian in the second half as the Mountaineers continued their momentum into the early minutes of the final period of play.

After UNCG cut the deficit to just four points on its second possession of the half, App State ripped off a 10-0 run to extend its lead to 47-33 and never led by less than 10 points after that.

A bucket from KeKe Cooper at the 3:59 gave the Mountaineers their biggest lead of the day at 74-49 as Appalachian rolled to its fifth-straight win.

Anna Freeman finished with a game-high 18 points and ripped down seven rebounds while Maryah Sydnor notched a double-double with 12 points and 11 boards. Bria Huffman provided 11 points off the bench and Raven Gary dished out a career and game-high ten assists.

UNCG was led in scoring by Janae' Patterson's 12 points and Lucy Mason added 12. The Mountaineers shot 46.2 percent (30-of-65) from the floor while holding the Spartans to just 32.3 percent (21-of-65) and pulled down 46 rebounds to UNCG's 41.

Chattanooga 70, Western Carolina 43

CULLOWHEE, N.C. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team remains atop the Southern Conference standings with a 70-43 win over Western Carolina Sunday afternoon at the Ramsey Center. Chattanooga improves to 14-3 overall and 7-1 in league play while the Catamounts fall to 4-12 overall and 2-5 against the Southern Conference.

Chattanooga got scoring from all 12 players shooting 26-of-53 (49.1%) from the field, 10-of-26 from the 3-point line and hitting 8-of-9 from the free throw line. Western Carolina outrebounded the Lady Mocs 37-28, grabbing 19 offensive boards to the Lady Mocs’ 10.

Senior Kayla Christopher (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) and junior Ashlen Dewart (Spartanburg, S.C.) combined for 25 points with each making 5-of-7 from the field. Christopher, with 12 points, was 2-of-4 from beyond the arc and dished out a team-high three assists while Dewart was 3-of-4 from the free throw line with 13 points and three rebounds.

Chattanooga led from wire-to-wire in the game and got out to a 10-5 lead in the first four minutes with four points from Dewart and a pair of 3-pointers. Western Carolina pulled to within three points several times over the course of the first before Dewart hit a layup with 7:41 to play in the first half sparking an 11-0 run to give Chattanooga capped off with a 3-pointer from junior Alex Black (Memphis, Tenn.) to give the Lady Mocs their largest lead of the opening half at 28-14.

The second half started with a 3-pointer from senior Kylie Lambert (Etowah, Tenn.) putting UTC up 33-16. The Catamounts got the next four before Chattanooga went on a 21-4 run over the next 8:06 and led 54-24 with 10:09 to play in the game.

Black had nine points making 3-of-4 from beyond the arc, tying her career-high for long rangers. Sophomore Ka’Vonne Towns (Lilburn, Ga.), junior Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) and freshman Tatianna Jackson (Atlanta, Ga.) each grabbed a team-high four rebounds. Towns chipped in seven points while Hall had five points, three assists and a career-high tying four steals. Jackson had six points and two steals while junior Meghan Downes (Newnan, Ga.) went 2-for-5 from beyond the arc for six points, two assists and two steals.

Western Carolina was led by Lindsay Simpson's 13 points. Diamond Hunnicut scored eight points off the bench and Shauna Terry had six points and a game-best seven rebounds.

Chattanooga dominated the Catamounts in the paint 24-8 and scored 20 points off 18 Western Carolina turnovers. The Lady Mocs edged WCU 10-9 on second chance points and recorded a 28-22 advantage from the bench.