Wofford 67, UNC Asheville 55
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Junior Lauren Kirby scored a career-high 19 points and the Wofford women’s basketball team had three players in double figures to earn its first win of the 2013-14 season, topping UNC Asheville, 67-55, Thursday night inside Benjamin Johnson Arena.

Kirby completed the night 7-of-11 from the field and was perfect on her four free throw attempts. The junior forward added six rebounds and a career-high three steals, scoring 14 of her 19 points in the second half.

The Terriers (1-1) had two more players score in double figures. Senior guard Logan Morris had 16 points and a career-high eight rebounds, while sophomore guard Chanel Stokes finished with 13 points and two steals.

Wofford was strong in the second half, outscoring the Bulldogs (1-1) 40-24. Trailing 47-44 at the 10:39 mark, Wofford went on a 21-3 run, in which UNC Asheville scored just one basket over the course of 9:11.

The loss is UNC Asheville’s first of the season after defeating Furman last Saturday on a half-court buzzer beater to end a 42-game losing streak against Division I opponents. Thursday night, the Bulldogs were led by Tianna Knuckles, who scored a team-high 12 points.

Kirby’s previous career-high was eight points, which she posted in December of her freshman 2011-12 season against Radford.

Kirby scored Wofford’s first basket of the night, and drained the first 3-pointer of her collegiate career three minutes later to give the Terriers a 9-8 lead. The made 3-pointer sparked a 14-4 Wofford run, putting the home side ahead 20-12 at the 12:25 mark of the first half.

UNC Asheville responded with a 12-0 run to retake the lead as the Terriers went cold, being held without a field goal for the next 8:19. Wofford’s defense kept it in the game as Asheville led just 27-23 before Morris made a field goal to end the drought at the 4:06 mark and get the Terriers back within a basket. 

At the half, Asheville led 31-27 with 20 of its points coming off the bench. Each side turned the ball over 17 times.

Wofford turned it over just three more times the rest of the game, while forcing nine Asheville turnovers. A 6-0 Terrier run began the second half with baskets by Morris, sophomore Jordan Frazier and Kirby, putting Wofford right back in front in less than 90 seconds.

The Bulldogs got it all back. Wofford led by four at 41-37 until Asheville went on an 8-0 to grab another four-point lead, 45-41. The lead was cut to three at 47-44 and then Morris scored seven straight Terrier points to spark a 21-3 run. 

When it was over, Wofford had its biggest lead of 15 points, 65-50, with 1:28 to play, going on to win by 12 and finishing the game with 31 points off UNC Asheville’s 27 turnovers.

 

No. 4 Tennessee 80, Chattanooga 56
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Faith Dupree took a handoff from junior Ka’Vonne Towns on the perimeter as time was winding down in the first half. Towns slipped past her defender and Dupree sent her a backdoor pass as she drove toward the bucket. With one defender in her way, Towns deeked to her left and put the layup in with her right and knotted up the contest 32-32 with 13 seconds on the clock.

That score would stand at the half, much the same as halftime last season at the Roundhouse when the two went into the break tied 28-28. However, the second half Thursday night at Thompson-Boling Arena was much different. The Lady Mocs dropped to 1-1 on the year with an 80-56 loss to the fourth-ranked University of Tennessee. The Lady Vols improve to 3-0 on the year.

Chattanooga executed good ball control and tempo in the first half and pulled out to a 16-9 lead at the 11:00 mark of the first half. However, over the next 5:29, UTK outscored the Lady Mocs 13-2 and pulled ahead 22-18, its largest lead of the half. UTC battled back and the game tied three more times over the period and Chattanooga’s 14-10 advantage over the final 5:31, tied the game at intermission.

In the second half, the Lady Vols stepped up their offense and went on a 21-4 run over the first 6:08 of the half led by 10 points from Ariel Massengale who had a game-high 16 points.

Over the next four minutes, the Lady Mocs held even with UTK getting a trio of 3-pointers from three different players, but Chattanooga couldn’t chip away at the lead that continued to grow.

Senior Ashlen Dewart  was 2-of-5 from the 3-point line, her first treys since arriving at UTC, and had a team-high 13 points along with six rebounds. Classmate Taylor Hall had 12 for UTC with a team-best eight rebounds, four assists and three steals. Dupree scored 11 points against her former team making 2-of-5 from beyond the arc. Sophomore Alicia Payne had foul trouble late and exited the game with four assists.

Chattanooga shot 40.7 percent in the first half but made just 8-of-35 in the second (22.9%). However, the bright spot was a 10-of-24 (41.7%) effort from the 3-point line.

The Lady Vols were led by Massengale who made 4-of-5 from beyond the arc and dished out five assists, while top recruit Mercedes Russell had 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting. Joining them in double-figures were Bashaara Graves with 11 points and seven boards and Meighan Simmons with 10 points, three assists and two steals.

The players from the Knoxville campus shot 48.5 percent for the game and 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from the 3-point line. UTK outscored UTC 40-12 in the paint, 15-6 off turnovers, 18-6 off second chance points and 37-20 in bench points.

Chattanooga forced 18 turnovers but gave up 16 of its own and had eight steals to UTK’s five. The Lady Vols outrebounded UTC 50-33 with a slight 18-16 advantage on the offensive glass.

 

Talladega College 50, Samford 49
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Talladega College’s Tianna Jones hit a layup as time expired to lift the Tornado women’s basketball team to a 50-49 win at Samford Thursday night in the Pete Hanna Center.

In a game that was tight throughout, Samford had taken a 49-48 lead on a layup by Brittany Stevens with just five seconds to go. After a timeout by Talladega, Jones drove to the basket, and her layup went through the net as time expired.

With the loss, Samford drops to 1-1 on the young season. Talladega College has a record of 5-0.

In the game, Samford was led by Ellen Riggins with 15 points and nine rebounds. Hannah Nichols scored nine points, while Shelby Campbell followed with eight points and six rebounds.

For Talladega College, Jamie Robinson scored 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Jones and Arielle George added 10 points each for the Tornadoes.

In the first half, with Samford leading, 4-3, Talladega went on a 13-4 run to take a 16-8 lead with 10:48 to go in the half after a jumper by Robinson. Samford answered with a 10-0 run of its own to take an 18-16 lead with 6:01 to go in the half after a three-pointer by Nichols.

With Samford leading, 21-18, Talladega scored seven of the last 10 points of the half to take a 25-24 advantage into halftime.

Samford scored the first five points of the second half to take a 29-25 lead with 18:44 to go after a pair of free throws by Riggins. The Bulldogs stretched their lead out to seven points at 37-30 with 14:31 to go following a layup by Riggins.

Talladega, however, scored the next eight points to take a 38-37 lead with 12:45 left after a layup by Robinson. Samford scored the next four points to take a 41-38 lead with 8:36 to go after two free throws by Riggins. The lead went back and forth for the remainder of the game, with Jones’ layup at the buzzer giving the Tornadoes the 50-49 win.