Davidson 77, Elon 62

DAVIDSON, N.C. –  Sophia Aleksandravicius registered her ninth double-double of the season and the Wildcats had a 46-point outburst in the second half on 51.9 percent shooting in pulling away for a 77-62 win over Elon to close out a four-game homestand Saturday afternoon in Southern Conference women’s basketball at John M. Belk Arena.

The ‘Cats (11-8, 8-1 SoCon), who trailed at the break 34-31, had its second game in a row with 40-plus points in the second half as they went on a 22-7 run in the last seven and a half minutes to move to 6-1 at home.

Aleksandravicius had team highs of 21 points, 10 coming in the second half, and 15 rebounds to pace Davidson, while Laura Murray fired in 17 points and pocketed four steals. Katrin Chiemeka had 10 to give Davidson three starters in double digits.

Shneeka Center came off the bench and scored all 12 of her points in the second half, including six in the last minute and a half. She helped the Wildcat bench score 26 points, getting assistants from Sarah Davis (6 points) and Hannah Early (8).

Elon’s (10-8, 7-2 SoCon) seven-game win streak came to an end. Ali Ford had a game-high 23 points, but Davidson’s defense forced her into 12 turnovers and the Phoenix had 21 as a team. Sam Coffer added 16 points, including four triples.

Tied at 55-all, the eighth tie of the game, Davidson started its run when Early hit a jumper just inside the arc on the right wing, then came right back down on the next possession and buried a trey with 6:24 left for a 60-55 lead. The sophomore had gone 0-for-4 in the first half, before getting those five quick points.

Five straight points later from Aleksandravicius and a three-pointer from Center pushed the lead out 68-59 with 2:40 left on the clock. Davidson then sealed up the win by going 7-for-8 at the charity stripe in the last two minutes to roll to its 20th SoCon win in the last 23 games.

The first half had six ties and two lead changes. Tied at 15-all, Coffer rattled off eight points and Elon grabbed a 23-17 lead. Chiemeka kept Davidson close with eight of her own points later, including a driving layup that cut the Phoenix lead down to one, 32-31, with 40 ticks remaining in the half.

Davidson finished the game shooting 44.8 percent and had a 37-35 edge on the boards. It dished out 19 assists to go with 14 steals.

Furman 70, Wofford 61

GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Kaitlin Murphy scored a season high 20 points to lead Furman past Wofford, 70-61, in Southern Conference women’s basketball play Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.

Murphy, a senior guard from Memphis, Tenn., connected on 6-of-10 shots, including a perfect 3-of-3 from beyond the arc, and 5-of-6 free throws to up her career scoring tally to 974 points, putting her in position to become the 19th 1,000-point scorer in school history.

The win, which improved Furman (7-11, 3-6 SoCon) to 21-0 all-time against Wofford (6-11, 1-8 SoCon) in Greenville, halted the Paladins’ modest three-game losing streak.

Brittany Hodges added 18 points and six rebounds for Furman, which also got nine points from freshman Patrice Butler and a solid outing from Janice Roberts, who combined six points with a game high eight rebounds, three assists, and a steal in 27 minutes of action.

Daniella Motley scored 18 points and registered seven rebounds to lead Wofford, which also received a 14-point performance from Morgan Wrightson.

The two teams combined to shoot 61 free throws, and the physical contest generated 59 fouls and 49 turnovers.

Furman overcame an early 14-4 deficit to take a 34-29 lead.

The Terriers battled back to tie it a 40-40 on a Rachel Brittenham free throw five minutes into the second half.

Furman answered with 17-4 run over the next nine minutes to go up 57-44 following a pair of Hodges free throw with 6:24 remaining. 

Wofford used a technical foul on Furman to trim the advantage to six at 57-51, and trailed 59-53 before Hodges and Roberts contributed a pair of free throws and Teshia Griswold connected on a jump shot with 3:37 to to stretch the lead back to double digits and effectively put the Paladins in control.

Furman shot 42.6 percent from the field (20-of-47) and connected on 27-of-38 free throws to outscore the Terriers by 14 points at the line.  Wofford drained more field goals (24-of-54) but found the mark on just 13-of-27 free throw attempts (48.1 percent).

Furman claimed a 38-33 rebounding advantage.

Georgia Southern 63, UNCG 56

GREENSBORO, N.C. – MiMi DuBose scored 21 points, and Danielle Spencer added 14 points and six rebounds to lead Georgia Southern to a 63-56 Southern Conference women’s basketball victory over UNCG Saturday afternoon in Fleming Gymnasium.

It was the first true road win of the season for the Eagles (4-14, 3-6 SoCon), who took the lead on a Sierra Kirkland layup with 12:20 remaining and held it for the rest of the game.

UNCG (3-15, 0-9 SoCon) cut the margin to two points on a Lucy Mason layup in transition, but Spencer answered with a conventional 3-point play with 27 seconds left to give the Eagles a commanding five-point cushion. Spencer got great position in the post, took a dribble left and spun back right, scoring with her right hand as she was fouled.

After the junior forward hit the free throw, the Eagles forced a turnover on the Spartans’ next possession, and Anna Claire Knight drilled two free throws to seal the win.

Spencer’s scoring output was part of a 27-point performance from the Eagle bench. Kirkland finished with six points and seven rebounds, Jordi Cook scored five and Kiki Rawls netted two. Starter Meredyth Frye finished with nine points, four rebounds and two steals.

Janae’ Stevenson led the Spartans with 11 points and nine rebounds, and Breonna Patterson scored 12. Jessica Collins finished with eight points.

The Eagles shot 40 percent from the floor in the game and scored 25 points off of 19 Spartan turnovers.

The first period saw four lead changes and four ties in a back-and-forth affair. Spencer scored six points in a 13-5 Eagle run that opened a 16-8 lead 8:05 into the contest.

Trailing 20-15 later in the half, the Spartans used an 8-2 run, capped by a 3-pointer that banked in by Collins, to take a 23-22 lead. The teams traded baskets from there and went into the break deadlocked at 28-28.

UNCG opened a 39-35 cushion on a Jazmine Missouri 3-pointer 5:50 into the second frame, but GSU responded with a 12-2 run over the next 5:02 to take a 47-41 lead. Spencer scored four points during the stretch, and Cook added a triple.

Chattanooga 59, Appalachian State 55

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Kayla Christopher stepped to the line with 33 seconds to play and drained two of her six free throws to give Chattanooga a 57-55 lead. On the ensuing possession, Appalachian State called timeout with 20.6 seconds on the clock to set up a play, but UTC sophomore Ka’Vonne Towns didn’t give them a chance to run it with a steal in the corner.

The ball was quickly passed through the Chattanooga ranks and down the court before the Mountaineers could manage a foul. After a pair of missed free throws, junior Taylor Hall (New Tazewell, Tenn.) grabbed her third offensive rebound of the game and was sent to the line on an Appalachian State foul with 3.5 seconds to play. Hall drained both and the Lady Mocs improved to 16-3 on the year and 9-1 in Southern Conference play to remain in first in the league standings with a 59-55 win over Appalachian State Saturday night at the McKenzie Arena.

The Mountaineers drops just their fourth game of the season, second in the SoCon, to move to 12-4 overall and 6-2 in league play.

Over the first 10 minutes of the game, neither team was able to gain an advantage. Chattanooga would gradually get out front and hold on, leading 31-24 at the break.

The second half started with senior Kylie Lambert (Etowah, Tenn.) draining a three just as she did to start the game and the Lady Mocs would quickly push their lead up to 44-29, its largest of the game, with 15:41 to play on a layup from Christopher.

However, field goals would be few and far between over the final stretch of play for Chattanooga while Appalachian State mounted a comeback that would eventually give them a lead. The Mountaineers outscored Chattanooga 16-1 over the next 7:52 to knot it up 45-45 with 7:31 to play on a jumper from KeKe Cooper.

UTC freshman Alicia Payne (Memphis, Tenn.) was fouled hard on her drive to the basket and knocked down both free throws to give the lead back to Chattanooga, 47-45 with 6:51 on the clock.  Cooper hit a jumper to tie it up again and Christopher sank another pair of free throws to make it 49-47 with 5:12 left in the game.

Appalachian State’s Katie Mallow tied it for the third time in the closing minutes with a pair of free throws before freshman Tatianna Jackson (Atlanta, Ga.) ended the Lady Mocs field goal drought with a layup and Chattanooga led 51-49. Junior Ashlen Dewart (Spartanburg, S.C.) was fouled on a drive to the basket and her two free throws gave the Lady Mocs a gentle 53-49 cushion.

The Mountaineers battled back and took a 55-53 lead, its first since the 9:54 mark of the first half, with free throws from Anna Freeman with 2:16 to play. That would be all the scoring left for Appalachian State who missed both of its final shots from the field and Chattanooga was 4-of-6 from the free throw line for the final score.

The Mountaineers outscored Chattanooga in the paint 30-24 and Chattanooga edged ASU on second chance points 10-9 with a slight 16-14 advantage on the offensive boards. The Lady Mocs’ bench contributed 10 points to the Mountaineers’ four and both team scored 14 points off turnovers and just two fast break points apiece.

Four Chattanooga players scored in double figures led by Hall’s game-high 15 points and she tallied her first double-double of the season with 11 rebounds and three assists. Dewart recorded her third double-double this season with 12 points and 12 rebounds, matching her season-best. Christopher and Lambert each had 11 points in the game. Christopher matched her season-best with five assists while Lambert had a season-high three 3-pointers and Jackson had six points and six rebounds.

Three Appalachian State players reached double figures. Maryah Sydnor had 12 points and eight rebounds while Katie Mallow had 12 points along with three steals. Raven Gary had nine points, four assists and three steals while league-leading scorer Anna Freeman, who  was held to eight points, had a team-high nine rebounds along with two assists and four steals.

The win was Chattanooga’s 21st consecutive home court win dating back to last season when the Lady Mocs went 13-0 and are 8-0 so far this season.

College of Charleston 70, Western Carolina 47

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Western Carolina women’s basketball (5-13, 3-6 Southern Conference) dropped a road contest 70-47 to Colllege of Charleston (8-11, 5-6 SoCon) Saturday at TD Arena.

The Catamounts sufferered from anemic shooting in the first half and could never recover. Meanwhile, College of Charleston took advantage of the Catamounts’ shooting woes to build a 35-18 first half lead.

Western Carolina shot as low as 11 percent percent from the field, in the first half, and ended the first 20 minutes shooting 27.6. The Catamounts also missed their chances from the free throw line going just 2-of-9 from the charity stripe in the first half.

Junior forward Alex Abraham scored the first four points of the second half for Western Carolina, but it wasn’t enough to jump start the Catamounts. College of Charelston continued its offensive prowess it it found in the first half, to keep the pressure on Western Carolina.

Western Carolina had 15 turnovers in the contest and College of Chareleston scoed 17 points off WCU miscues. The Catamounts shot 32.8 percent overall in the game. After shooting just two free throws on nine attempts, in the the first half, the Catamounts was 6-of-7 in the second. Another telling note, College of Charleston conneted on eight three pointers in the game, and Western Carolina was 1-of-10 from behind the three-point line.

The Catamounts did better it’s second-half point total, scoring 29 in the final 20 minutes. However, College of Charleston had 35 points. The Cougars ended the game shooting 32.8 percent from the field.

For the third straigth game, freshman guard Lindsay Simpson has scored in double figures, posting 11 points against the Cougars. Abraham added a season-high 10 points.