UNCG 60, Furman 59

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Down by 11 in the second half, the UNCG women’s basketball team fought back and came away with a 60-59 victory over Furman Monday evening at Fleming Gymnasium.

The win marks the first for the Spartans (6-19, 3-13) at home in Southern Conference play and the first over the Paladins (10-15, 6-10) since Dec. 20, 2010 – also in Greensboro. UNCG also matched its SoCon win total from last season.

Freshman guard Ebona Goins, who scored the winning free throw, led three Spartans in double figures offensively with 12 points. Junior forward Janae’ Stevenson  and freshman guard Lucy Mason chipped in with 10 points apiece. Stevenson also paced the Blue and Gold with six rebounds (three offensive) while also increasing her career blocks total to 102 with two rejections.

In an evenly-played contest, Furman out-shot UNCG (.489-.407), but the Spartans knocked down one more shot (24-23) and took 12 more attempts from the field overall (59-47). UNCG was also able to force the Paladins into 20 turnovers, scoring 14 points off those miscues, while converting the visitors’ mistakes into 14 points and six steals. Furman won the rebounding battle overall, 32-30, but the Spartans finished with a 14-6 advantage on the offensive glass – leading to 11 second chance points.

The teams traded layups in the first minute of the game, but the Paladins netted the next six points to push in front by six with 16:41 on the clock. Stevenson then scored four points followed by a jumper by sophomore guard Jessica Collins as UNCG knotted the score at eight apiece. After a steal by junior guard Breonna Patterson, sophomore guard Jarae Savage dropped in a fast break layup to give the Spartans their first lead of the game with 11:40 left in the half.

The UNCG advantage grew to five at 20-15 when senior forward Sidnei Harmon  hit a jumper at the 8:25 mark and that margin would stay the same as Goins knocked down a pair of foul shots with 6:05 remaining in the period. Furman would eventually take the lead at 29-28 when Teisha Griswold drained a triple at the 1:19 mark, but the Spartans netted the final four points of the stanza, including a buzzer-beating jumper by Mason at the top of the key, to take a 32-29 edge into the break.

Griswold led all scorers in the first 20 minutes with 11 points while Mason tallied eight for the home team. The Paladins out-shot UNCG .550-.419, but turned the ball over 13 times which led to eight points for the Spartans. Furman also held the rebounding edge 15-13.

The Paladins asserted themselves in the opening moments of the second half as the Furman guards fed Brittany Hodges down low. She would score six of the first eight points of the period to help the visitors build a 37-32 lead. Stevenson would stop the run at the 16:47 mark to slice the UNCG deficit to three, but the Spartans went cold from there and allowed the Paladins to build a nine-point cushion at 43-34 with 12:56 to go.

Janice Roberts would cap a 10-2 run with a layup to afford Furman its largest advantage of the game at 47-36 with 11:55 on the clock, but baskets by Mason and Harmon quickly shrunk UNCG’s deficit to seven. A layup by Patrice Butler at the 9:45 mark seemed to put the Paladins in control 51-42, but the Spartans out-scored Furman 6-0 in the next two minutes to make a game of it. Hodges briefly put the visitors ahead by seven, 55-48, with 6:01 remaining, but a jumper by Stevenson ended an 8-2 UNCG run as the Paladins saw their lead shrink to just one at 57-56 at the 3:12 mark.

A free throw by Collins tied things at 57 with 2:43 on the clock before Hodges knocked down a pair of her own charity tosses to give Furman a 59-57 lead at the 1:31 mark. Goins made a nice move down the lane for a layup to knot the score at 59 on the Spartans’ next possession. She was not done impacting the game, however, as she drew an offensive foul on Hodges which fouled the forward out.

Patterson came up with another big defensive play as she stole the ball from Brigid Morrissey with 31 seconds left, gained possession and called timeout. Goins then sliced to the basket once more and drew the fifth foul on Roberts as the clock ticked down to 12 seconds. She made good on the first free throw to make the score 60-59 before missing the second. Stevenson skied above everyone to corral the offensive rebound and pushed the ball out to Mason, who was fouled with seven seconds left. She missed both foul shots, setting up one final possession for Furman.

Kaitlin Murphy took the ball down the floor and cut to the left side in an attempt to get a good look at the basket, but her game-winning attempt fell well short as time expired.

Davidson 67, Wofford 54

DAVIDSON, N.C. – On the heels of the program’s first unofficial triple-double, Sophia Aleksandravicius scored a game-high 26 points on season-best 11-of-13 shooting to lead Davidson to a 67-54 victory over Wofford in Southern Conference women’s basketball action Monday at Belk Arena.

In addition to her 23rd career 20-point outing, the Wildcats’ all-time leading scorer and rebounder pulled down a game-high nine boards to go along with three blocks. The senior scored 20 of her 26 points in the second half after getting into foul trouble in the first period.

Laura Murray added 11 points and a season-high tying eight rebounds for Davidson (16-9, 13-2 SoCon), while Sarah Davis contributed 10 points off the bench going 3-of-3 from the field and making all four of her charity tosses.

The Wildcats torched the nets for 66.7 percent (16-24) following intermission to conclude the contest at 49.1 percent. They were just as impressive on the defensive end, limiting Wofford (7-16, 2-13 SoCon) to just 35 percent overall shooting and 3-of-20 from long range.

Morgan Wrightson was the lone Terrier in double figures, scoring 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting, including two of her club’s three treys in 38 minutes of action. The senior had 17 of those points in the first half.

After falling behind 19-8, Davidson closed the opening period on a 20-9 run capped off by a Murray jumper at the buzzer, to tie the score at the half, 28-28.

With the game deadlocked at 32-32, Murray gave the ‘Cats their first lead of the contest with a layup, which ignited a 17-6 streak and pushed the margin to 49-38 with 10:17 to play.

Wofford cut the deficit to six on several occasions in the second half, but was unable to get any closer as the Wildcats stretched the advantage back to double figures and put the game out of reach.

Davidson outrebounded the Terriers, 43-30, and finished with 44 points in the paint, which were four off their season-high.

College of Charleston 63, Samford 62

CHARLESTON, S.C.—The Samford women’s basketball team held an 11-point halftime lead, but the Bulldogs were outscored by 12 points in the second half in a 63-62 Southern Conference loss at College of Charleston Monday evening.

The loss marked the second-straight one-point loss for the Bulldogs. Samford fell at Georgia Southern, 52-51, on Saturday.

Samford was led in the game by senior guard Jazmine Martin with 13 points. Sophomore Taylor Reece and freshman Krista Stricklin had 12 points each for the Bulldogs. Freshman Rebecca Webster added eight points, while senior Hannah Dawson had seven points and six rebounds for Samford.

Reece and Dawson both fouled out in the second half, leaving Samford with just six players for the last several minutes of the contest.

For College of Charleston, Latisha Harris led the way with 20 points. Afreyea Tolbert and Alyssa Frye had 16 points each for the Cougars. 

The game went back-and-forth through most of the first half, with neither team able to build more than a three-point lead until Samford took a 14-10 lead with 8:15 to go in the first half after a three-pointer by Martin. After a basket by Charleston cut the lead to 14-12, Samford went on an 8-0 run to take a 22-12 lead with 4:00 to go in the half after a three-pointer by Kendall Schwantz.

Charleston scored the next five points to cut the Samford lead to five points at 22-17 with 3:02 to go in the half after a three-pointer by Frye. Samford, however, scored the final six points of the first half to take a 28-17 lead into halftime.

College of Charleston opened the second half with a 7-0 run to cut the Samford lead to four points at 28-24 with 18:41 to go after a layup by Tolbert. With Samford leading, 31-27, College of Charleston went on a 9-3 run to take its first lead of the second half at 36-34 with 13:46 to go after two free throws by Harris.

Samford then scored the next seven points to take a 41-36 lead with 12:18 to go after a jumper by Reece. With Samford leading, 43-38, Charleston went on a 6-0 run to take a 44-43 lead with 8:53 to go after a three-pointer by Frye. Samford then went on a 7-2 run to take a 50-46 lead with 6:53 to go after a three-point play by Reece.

College of Charleston scored the next seven points to take a 53-50 lead with 4:35 to go after a jumper by Tolbert. Samford battled back to take the lead again at 59-57 after a three-pointer by Stricklin with 1:04 left in the game. The Cougars, however, hit six free throws down the stretch to take a 63-59 lead with five seconds to go. A three-pointer by Martin at the buzzer made the final score 63-62.

With the loss, Samford falls to 12-14 overall and 9-8 in the Southern Conference. College of Charleston improves to 12-13 overall and 8-8 in league play.

Chattanooga 67, Georgia Southern 50

STATESBORO, Ga. – Ashlen Dewart tallied 24 points, including 20 in the second half, and collected a season-high 13 rebounds to lead Chattanooga to a 67-50 Southern Conference women’s basketball victory over Georgia Southern Monday night in Hanner Fieldhouse.

It was the 13th straight win for the Lady Mocs (23-3, 16-1 SoCon), who maintained their one-game advantage over Davidson for first place in the league.

Meredyth Frye scored 12 points for the Eagles (5-20, 4-12 SoCon), leaving the senior five shy of 1,000 for her career. MiMi DuBose netted 12 points, and Anna Claire Knight tallied 10 points and nine rebounds.

Kayla Christopher scored nine points for Chattanooga, while Alicia Payne and Meghan Downes each netted eight.

Dewart was 2-for-4 in the first half but connected on seven of her 10 shots in the second frame, and nine of her game-high 13 rebounds were on the offensive glass, helping the Lady Mocs score 23 second-chance points.

The Eagles trimmed a 10-point halftime deficit to 39-33 on a Knight layup early in the second half and forced a missed shot on the ensuing Lady Moc possession. But Dewart corralled the rebound, put it in and was fouled. The junior hit the free throw, and the play sparked a 9-0 Lady Mocs’ run that pushed the lead to 15 midway through the period.

Georgia Southern cut the deficit to 12 points twice but could not get to within single digits.

After Knight tied the game 24-24 on a fast-break layup with 5:01 left in the first half, Chattanooga scored 10 unanswered points to cap the frame. Downes ignited the run with a triple from the right corner and added a pull-up jumper from the baseline later in the spurt.

Christopher connected on a 3-pointer from the wing, and Hall added a fast-break layup. The Eagles finished the half with 15 turnovers, which turned into 17 Lady Mocs’ points.

Appalachian State 63, Western Carolina 32

CULLOWHEE, N.C. -  Maryah Sydnor recorded a game-high 16 points, while Kelsey Sharkey grabbed 12 boards to carry Appalachian State University women's basketball to a dominating 63-32 win against Southern Conference foe Western Carolina on Monday at the Ramsey Center.

Anna Freeman scored Appalachian's first basket to set the Mountaineers (17-6, 11-4 SoCon) on a quick 8-0 run over the first four minutes of the half (8-0). Appalachian took the lead and never trailed as they handed the Catamounts (7-18, 5-11) a second loss this season.

Kristen Lyon's jumper at 12:22 into the first would pull the Catamounts within three (10-7), but that would be as close to a lead as Western would come as Appalachian powered forward, increasing its first half lead by as many as 17 (27-10).

Appalachian held WCU to a dismal 13.0 percent shooting (3-for-23) in the first half on its way to a 27-11 halftime lead.

The Mountaineers amped up the momentum through the second half as they knocked down 36 points in 40.9 percent shooting (27-of-66) expanding their lead to 31 (57-26) with 2:31 in the contest. Bria Huffman's jumper in the final seven seconds would finalize Appalachian's 63-32 victory.

Kelsey Sharkey recorded a game high 12 boards, while Maryah Sydnor led all players in scoring with 16 points, and put up four steals for the Mountaineers. Anna Freeman finished with 12 points, and pulled down 10 boards for yet another double-double, along with putting up four blocks and six steals. Courtney Freeman rounded out the App's double-digit scorers with 11 points against the Catamounts. 

Hana Haden and Kristen Lyon paced Western Carolina with six points each. Janae' McKinney grabbed a team-high seven rebounds.

Appalachian shot 40.9 percent (27-for-66) on the night, while WCU connected on just 21.2 percent (11-for-52) of its shots.