New Mexico 56, Western Carolina 37CORAL GABLES, Fla. – Western Carolina women’s basketball (6-5) fell to New Mexico (5-5) 56-37 Saturday, at the BankUnited Center, in the second game of the Holiday Tournament hosted by the University of Miami.
The Catamounts will play Morgan State at 1 p.m. Sunday in the consolation bracket. The Bears fell to host Miami 80-42 in the first game of the tournament.
After leading 20-18 at the half, Western Carolina gave up 37 second half points to New Mexico. The Lobo charge was led by Antiesha Brown who sank the first six New Mexico points of the second half and ended the game with 14.
Western Carolina scored just 17 points in the final 20 minutes. It was the second straight game WCU led at the half only to give up the advantage in the second and drop the game.
New Mexico also found the three-point line. The Lobos were 0-of-8 in the first half behind the three-point arch and 2-for-7 in the second 20 minutes.
Junior guard Makensey Campbell hit all three of Western Carolina’s three-pointers in the game and ended the contest with 11 points. Campbell accounted for almost a third of the Catamounts’ 37 points in the contest.
Tied at 18 in the waning seconds of the first half, Western Carolina took a two-point, 20-18, lead into the locker room. Senior forward Shauna Terry worked herself around the bucket to score, for the Catamounts, with 2.7 seconds left.
Western Carolina led by as much as seven points twice in the first 20 minutes but couldn’t expand on its lead – going almost nine minutes without a field goal. Terry’s bucket halted the draught.
New Mexico came out in the second half to tie the game, at 20, on a jumper by Brown. It was Brown’s six straight points, and offensive pressure, that pushed the Lobos ahead. The Lobos outscored Western Carolina eight to four to claim its first lead, since the 13:11 mark in the first half when New Mexico was up 9-8 on the Catamounts. New Mexico would never trail again.
Western Carolina kept the New Mexico lead under double digits for most of the second half. Trailing by seven, 38-31 with 10:23 remaining, Western Carolina had a couple of key possessions that looked like it would get the Catamounts back in the game.
In the span of four minutes, Western Carolina had a pair of steals, and also sent Erika Joseph to the free throw line for a pair of free throws. The Catamounts were unable to convert the steals into points and Joseph went 0-for-2 from the charity stripe.
Western Carolina was 6-of-12 from the free throw line and New Mexico made the most of its freebie trips going 6-of-9. After shooting 32 percent from the field in the first half, the Catamounts dipped to 24 percent in the second half to shoot 28 percent overall. The Lobos, on the other hand, recovered from its anemic 25.8 percent in the first half, to shoot a scorching 53.3 percent in the second.
New Mexico out-rebounded Western Carolina 46 to 33 and ripped down a balanced 20 offensive and 26 defensive boards.
Richmond 87, Davidson 68DAVIDSON, N.C. — Laura Murray and Hannah Early combined for 41 points, but Richmond countered with five double-figure scorers in taking the first-time matchup between both schools, 87-68, Saturday afternoon at John M. Belk Arena in women’s basketball.
The Wildcats (5-8) wrapped up their longest homestand since the 1998-99 season with a 3-3 record, but dropped the last two games.
Richmond (6-7) was led by Keri Soppe’s 18 points, followed by Olivia Healy (16), Kristina King (14), Janelle Hubbard (14) and Genevieve Okoro (11), who each scored in double digits.
Murray, who moved into second place all-time in scoring in program history, hit the 20-point mark for the fourth game in a row with an even 20. She scored 19 in the second half as Davidson scored 47 points as a team.
Early led all scorers with 21 points, one off her career-high, while Shneeka Center chipped in 10 points and seven boards off the bench.
Murray and Early tried to keep Davidson close in the second half, helping the Wildcats to get within three points after trailing 39-24 in the early part of the half. A pair of Murray free throws got the deficit to under 10 (42-34) and Early later followed with two of her own to make it 44-38 with 12:47 left.
A jumper by Early at the 12:05 mark made it 45-40, and then a layup from Rachel Piles brought the ‘Cats to within three (47-44) with under 11 minutes to go.
Davidson stayed within five points over the next few minutes, but Richmond kept countering the Wildcats’ scoring and pushed the lead back to double digits at 68-56 on a 14-7 run topped off by a Soppe three-ball with 6:16 on the clock.
Two Early free throws later would make it 70-61 with 4:32 remaining, but the Spiders finished out the game outscoring Davidson 17-7 for the final of 87-68.
The Wildcats shot 53.6 percent in the second half to close at 44.2 percent, but Richmond hit 55.2 percent of its second-half shots and closed at 49.2 percent. It also went 17-for-20 at the charity stripe in the half and concluded the game at 20-for-24.
The first half saw Davidson turn the ball over 16 times with Richmond turning those into 15 points on its way to a 34-21 halftime lead. The ‘Cats were also hurt by a seven-minute scoreless stretch that saw them fall behind 22-10 midway through the half.
Maryland 110, Wofford 53COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Wofford women’s basketball team fell to No. 8 Maryland, 110-53, in game one of the Terrapin Classic on Saturday afternoon inside the Comcast Center.
Wofford (2-9) was led by Jordan Frazier’s team-high 19 points, but Maryland (11-1) had five players reach double figures. Preseason All-America selection Alyssa Thomas led the way with 18 points, and put together her second collegiate triple-double with 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Also reaching double figures in points for the Terps were Shatori Walker-Kembrough with 17, Brene Moseley and Tierney Pfirman with 14 points apiece, and 10 by Alicia DeVaughn. Twelve different Terrapins finished the game in the scoring column.
On the afternoon, Maryland sank 41 field goals on 62.1-percent shooting, including a 9-of-18 showing from long range. The Terriers were 18-of-57 (31.6 percent) in the game and 6-of-19 from beyond the arc.
The Terriers stopped Maryland on its first possession and Logan Morris’ bid to give Wofford the game’s first lead came up empty from 3-point range. Laurin Mincy put down a layup on the next possession, giving Maryland a lead it never relinquished.
Frazier scored the first seven Terrier points, including a layup to get Wofford within a basket at 8-5. Maryland responded with back-to-back 3-pointers from Walker-Kimbrough and Moseley and went up 18-5 before Frazier could come up with Wofford’s next two points from the free throw line.
Freshman Kentra Washington helped get Wofford back within single digits. She hit a pair from the free throw line to make the score 22-13 at the 10:55 mark. Two trips later, Washington drained a trey to make it a 10-point game, 26-16.
After Maryland came back with a 13-3 run and grabbed a 20-point lead, 39-19, Wofford hung tough and saw Frazier drive to the basket for a layup and the foul. The made free throw cut the gap to 16. Katie Rutan buried a trey on Maryland’s next possession, but Morris responded again for the Terriers with a 3-pointer to make the score 44-28.
It was all Maryland the rest of the half. The Terps got to the locker rooms on a 12-0 run leading 56-28. Wofford was being outrebounded 22-13 while Maryland was shooting 57.1 percent with 20 made field goals in the opening half. Frazier led the Terriers with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting, but Walker-Kimbrough was making an impact for Maryland with four 3-pointers on four attempts. Thomas was up to seven rebounds.
Maryland scored three times in the first 80 seconds of the second half and Wofford head coach Edgar Farmer called a timeout with the Terriers down 34. The Terrapin lead extended to 40 at the 16:58 mark, and grew to 50 with 8:48 remaining as Maryland led 85-35.
The Terrapins hit the century mark on a layup from Pfirman, going ahead 101-45 with 4:37 to play.