Samford 62, Memphis 60
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – The Samford women’s basketball team opened its 2013-14 regular season with a hard-fought 62-60 win at Memphis Sunday afternoon at the Elma Roane Fieldhouse.

Samford was led in scoring in the win by freshman Ellen Riggins with 16 points and six rebounds. Sophomore Krista Stricklin had 15 points and seven rebounds, while freshman Hannah Nichols scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Freshman Brittany Stevens grabbed six rebounds and dished out six assists in the win for the Bulldogs.

For Memphis, Ariel Hearn led the way with 17 points. Mooriah Rowser scored 13 points, while Brei Wilder-Cochran added 10 points. Asianna Fuqua-Bey had eight points and nine rebounds for the Tigers.

Memphis started the game off hot, scoring the first five points of the contest. Samford, however, went on an 8-0 run to take an 8-5 lead with 16:44 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by Stricklin. Memphis answered with a 12-3 run of its own to take a 17-11 lead with 11:58 to go in the opening half following a free throw by Wilder-Cochran.

After Samford closed to within two points at 17-15, Memphis went on a 7-0 run to make the score 24-15 with 8:51 left in the half after a layup by Fuqua-Bey. Samford slowly fought its way back, taking a 29-28 lead with 3:52 left in the half after a jumper by Amara Mayers.

Memphis scored the next four points to take a 32-29 lead. Samford, however, fought back to cut the lead to one at 34-33 with 1:47 left in the half after a layup by Stevens. Memphis closed the half by scoring the last four points of the period to take a 38-33 lead.

Samford scored the first 11 points of the second half, taking a six-point lead at 44-38 with 16:32 to go after a layup by Lydia McGee. With Samford leading, 49-45, a three-pointer and a jumper by Memphis gave the Tigers a 50-49 lead with 9:30 to go in the game.

The Bulldogs came back to tie the game at 52-52 with 6:41 left after a free throw by Christy Robinson. Samford took the lead at 57-54 with 4:50 left after a three-pointer by Nichols. Memphis came back to take a 58-57 lead with 3:27 to go following a jumper by Rowser.

Stricklin then hit a layup to give Samford a 59-58 lead with 2:54 left. Memphis took the lead again at 60-59 on a jumper by Rowser with 1:17 to go. The Bulldogs took the lead for good when Riggins hit a jumper with 57 seconds left to make the score 61-60.

Memphis had two possessions to try to take the lead in the last minute, but the Samford defense came up with stops on both possessions. Nichols hit a free throw with less than a second to go to make the final score 62-60.

As a team, Samford out-rebounded the bigger Tigers, 41-34. Samford shot 43.6 percent as a team, while Memphis hit 41.9 percent of its shots. Samford committed 21 turnovers, compared to 14 for Memphis.

 

 
Georgia Tech 87, Western Carolina 47
ATLANTA, Ga. – Western Carolina women’s basketball (0-2) lost 87-47 to Georgia Tech (2-0) Sunday in McCamish Pavilion.

Sophomore guard Lindsay Simpson accounted for 19 of the Catamounts’ 47 points in the game. The 19 points were a season-high for the Franklin, N.C. native. 

A dominating second half, by Georgia Tech, put the game out of hand for Western Carolina. The Yellow Jackets opened the second half 14-2, in the first five minutes, to take complete control of the game.
Western Carolina looked good early taking an 8-3 lead to open the contest on a couple of field goals by Simpson and a three-pointer by senior guard Rena Wakama. Georgia Tech went on an 8-0 run to take its first lead of the game, 11-8, but Western Carolina knotted it at 11 thanks to Simpson’s second three-pointer of the game. Georgia Tech responded with field goal by Roddreka Rogers to tie the game to take the lead for good.

The Catamounts stayed with Georgia Tech for the first half and even had a chance to cut the Yellow Jacket’s lead to single digits with less than two minutes left in the game. After Hana Haden hit a field goal, Western Carolina trailed 31-21 with 3:20 left in the half. Junior guard Ali Lane was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one allowing Georgia Tech to rip down the rebound.

Georgia Tech outscored Western Carolina 6-3 in the final minute of the half to take a 43-29 lead into the locker room. Western Carolina did seem to have some momentum going into the half when Lane hit a three-pointer with 48 seconds left on the clock.

Any momentum Western Carolina might have found in the closing seconds of the first half didn’t equate to points in the second half. The Catamounts scored just one field goal, a lay-up by senior forward Shauna Terry, in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Georgia Tech outscored the Catamounts 26-2 in the first 10 minutes of the second half.

The Catamounts got its second field goal of the second half, with 8:14 left to play, off a field goal by Simpson who was also fouled and completed the three-point play.
Georgia Tech outscored Western Carolina 44-18 in the second half. The Yellow Jackets also won the battle of the glass ripping down 52 rebounds to the Catamounts’ 26.
Haden followed up her career-high 18 point performance at Mercer Friday by dishing out a season-high six assists against Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets’ Kaela Davis notched a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

 

Clemson 72, Wofford 50
CLEMSON, S.C. – The Wofford College women’s basketball team played its first game of the 2013-14 season, falling to Clemson, 72-50, Sunday afternoon inside Littlejohn Coliseum. 

Wofford (0-1) was led by redshirt senior guard Erin Frost, who finished the afternoon with a team-high 13 points, two off her career high. Frost shot 3-of-8 from the field, all from 3-point range, and was a perfect 4-of-4 from the free throw line. Sophomore guard Ashton Fleming finished in double figures with 10 points, tying her career-high, grabbing a team-high seven rebounds, all offensive, to help the Terriers outrebound Clemson (1-1) 21-15 on the offensive end. 

For the Tigers, Chancie Dunn shot 7-of-8 from the field to tally a game-high 15 points. Nikki Dixon had 14 points and Kelly Gramlich had 10. Guard Chelsea Lindsay had nine points and a game-high eight rebounds as Clemson dominated the defensive boards 28-16 to outrebound the Terriers 43-37 for the game.

The Terriers shot 81.8 percent from the line, sinking 18 of 22 attempts. It marked Wofford’s most made free throws since Dec. 19 of last season when it hit 19 against Gardner-Webb. The 81.8 free throw percentage is Wofford’s best since Feb. 11 of the 2011-12 season, when the Terriers shot 85 percent from the line with 17 makes on 20 attempts. 

Cold shooting from the field is what affected Wofford from the start. On the afternoon, the Terriers were just 21.3 percent on 13-of-61 shooting, allowing Clemson to get away with seven turnovers through the first six minutes with the Terriers ahead by only a point at 5-4. 

Clemson then got hot and a made jumper by Dunn sparked a 9-0 run to give the Tigers a lead they never relinquished. Wofford went on to score five straight, capped by a Kentra Washington 3-pointer on the first shot attempt of her collegiate career, to get back within three, 13-10, but another Clemson run followed. The Tigers scored nine of the next 10 points over a 3:27 span, putting themselves up 22-11 with 7:37 to play in the first half.

Frost helped the Terriers stay in it, draining her first three of the game at the 5:46 mark and scoring five straight Wofford points to cut the deficit down to five. A 10-0 Clemson run followed to make it a 15-point game and award the Tigers their biggest lead of the half.

The Terriers got some momentum heading into the locker room as Chanel Stokes received an in-bounds pass with five seconds to play and dribbled the ball up the court to hit a three at the first-half buzzer. The Stokes basket made the halftime score 36-24 in favor of Clemson. Wofford hit just five field goals and shot 19.2 percent in the first half compared to Clemson’s 15 made field goals and 52-percent shooting. Forcing 13 Tiger turnovers and shooting 11-of-14 from the free-throw line got the Terriers into the locker room down just 12. 

The deficit never got below 12 the remainder of the game. Wofford trailed by as many at 44-32 with four minutes gone by in the second half, until a made 3-pointer by Gramlich sparked a 7-0 run to put Clemson up 19.

It remained about a 15-point game the majority of the second half. Frost drained her second triple to make it exactly a 15-point game once again, 58-43, with 6:33 remaining, but Clemson went on to score eight straight points, including back-to-back made 3-pointers by Dixon, opening the gap to 23 before Frost could come back to end the run with her final trey of the game.

Clemson saw its largest lead of 24 points come with 1:12 to play, 72-48, before going on to defeat the Terriers in their season opener by 22.