Appalachian State 61, Samford 47BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State women's basketball found a win for the second-straight game on Saturday, downing Samford with a score of 61-47 in the Holmes Center.
Fueled by Maryah Sydnor's 24 points, Appalachian (5-9, 2-2 SoCon) was able to find a win against the Bulldogs (3-13, 1-4) and tally its second Southern Conference win of the season.
Scoring would be an issue for App State in the beginning of the first half as Samford led 6-2 with 15:37 left. The Mountaineers would finally gain the lead with a layup from Bria Huffman to make the score 10-8 and from there the Apps would take control.
As the Mountaineers attempted to lengthen their lead, the Bulldogs would find a way to score, never falling behind by more than six points and coming within three with 3:16 left in the half. The Mountaineers would go on a 7-2 run at the end of the first half to lead Samford 27-19.
Sydnor led the Mountaineers at the half, scoring ten points. The Apps shot 40 percent (10-25) from the floor in the first half, while Samford recorded a 35 percent (7-20) field goal percentage.
The Mountaineers started the second half strong, scoring the first two points, but the Bulldogs remained composed, hitting a jumper and three from Hannah Nichols in the first three minutes.
Samford would pull within six points with 14:53 to play, but Farrahn Wood responded with a three-pointer to put the Apps back up by nine points.
The Bulldogs would not close the lead to more than eight points for the rest of the game, as Sydnor led App State, scoring 12 points in the last ten minutes of play. The Mountaineers would take the game with a final score of 61-47.
Sydnor finished with 24 points and six rebounds, while Huffman notched 11 points and five assists on the game.
Joi Jones and Katie Mallow each recorded eight points in the win, with Jones dishing out four assists and finding five steals. Mia Marshall and KeKe Cooper led the team on the boards, each grabbing seven rebounds.
The Mountaineers finished with a 38.3 percent (18-47) field goal percentage, while finding 27 rebounds and turning the ball over 21 times.
Hannah Nichols led Samford in scoring and rebounds, tallying 13 points and seven boards. Ellen Riggins followed with 12 points and six rebounds.
The Bulldogs shot 45.7 percent (21-46) from the floor in the loss, grabbing 38 rebounds and 19 turnovers.
Davidson 67, Elon 62DAVIDSON, N.C. — Led by double-doubles from Hannah Early (22 points, 11 rebounds) and Dakota Dukes (16 points, 10 rebounds), the Davidson women’s basketball team netted their fourth Southern Conference victory of the year with a 67-62 triumph at home vs. Elon Saturday afternoon in John M. Belk Arena.
It was the second time this year the duo of Early and Dukes had a double-double in the same game. Laura Murray added her 27th career game of 20 points, scoring an even 20 to lead all scorers.
Davidson (7-9, 4-1 SoCon) had to hold off a late charge by the Phoenix, which cut a 16-point second-half deficit down to three (63-60) on a trey by Zora Stephenson with 51 ticks left in the game. After the ‘Cats forced an Elon turnover on its second-to-last possession, Murray and Early sealed the win by making a pair of free throws in the last 21 seconds.
Elon (5-10, 1-3 SoCon) put three players in double figures led by Kelsey Harris’ 18 points. Lauren Brown added 15 points to go with five assists and Stephenson scored 11, getting nine of her points from behind the arc.
The Wildcats had a comfortable 48-32 lead after Early nailed her second shot from downtown in a minute span with 13:51 left on the clock. Elon started cutting into the lead using a quick 8-1 run to make it 49-40 with just over nine minutes to go.
Davidson got the lead back out to 12 points on Early’s fourth triple of the game, but Elon charged right back and ran off a 20-9 run over the next six minutes to get within three, 63-60, and 51 seconds remaining.
Murray led a hot-shooting Wildcat squad in the first half with nine early points and the ‘Cats raced out to a 27-9 lead 10 minutes into the start of the first half. They hit 12 of their first 18 shots.
Elon ran off a 12-3 run to get back in the game and close within eight at 30-22 with 2:24 left in the first half. Rachel Piles and Murray scored the final three points to give Davidson a 35-23 lead at the break.
Davidson shot 40.7 percent from the floor, including draining 7-of-15 from behind the arc for 46.7 percent. Elon was held to 37.1 percent, but shot 45.5 percent in the second half after the ‘Cats held the Phoenix to 26.7 percent in the first half.
The Wildcats had a 40-38 edge on the glass.
Georgia Southern 74, UNCG 71STATESBORO, Ga. – Anna Claire Knight scored a game-high 24 points, and MiMi DuBose went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line inside the last minute as Georgia Southern fought off UNCG, 74-71, in a Southern Conference women’s basketball contest Saturday afternoon in Hanner Fieldhouse.
DuBose finished with 18 points and five assists for the Eagles (5-11, 3-2 SoCon), while Knight also corralled six rebounds. Sierra Kirkland posted 10 points, nine rebounds and two assists off the bench, and Briana Jones contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds to go along with two blocked shots for her fourth double-double.
Janae’ Stevenson led UNCG (5-10, 1-3 SoCon) with 13 points and nine rebounds, and Jarae Savage collected 12 points and nine boards. Lucy Mason tallied 10 points, six assists and five rebounds, and Jessica Collins scored 10 points.
Jones’ layup off a nifty play gave Georgia Southern a 10-point cushion with 2:58 remaining, but Bailey Williams and Mason hit consecutive 3-pointers to trim the lead to 65-61 just 38 seconds later.
Jones got an offensive rebound and laid it in to give the Eagles some breathing room, but Stevenson scored on a putback and a Collins 3-pointer from the wing made the margin 67-66 with 44 seconds to go. Knight got the ball inbounds to DuBose, who was fouled by Mason and hit two from the charity stripe for GSU.
On the Spartans’ trip down the floor, Collins’ jumper was off but Savage collected the rebound and was fouled going back up with 21 seconds remaining. She missed the first free throw, and UNCG was whistled for a lane violation on the second, leaving the margin at three.
The Eagles inbounded to DuBose again, and the senior added two more from the charity stripe, but Savage got a putback for UNCG to keep the lead at three points. DuBose made two more free throws, but Collins knocked down a trey from the baseline making the score 73-71 with 0.4 seconds left. The Eagles inbounded to Lacie Dowling, who made 1-of-2 from the line with 0.3 to play, and Knight stole the Spartans’ long inbounds pass to seal the win.
The Eagles led by as many as 14 points in the first half and were up 37-27 at the break. UNCG roared back in the first 10 minutes of the second half and tied the game 49-49 on a Williams triple. The Eagles responded with a 14-4 run, as Knight scored five and Jones netted four, to rebuild their lead back to 10 points with 4:35 remaining.
The Eagles held UNCG to 35 percent shooting for the game and 27 percent in the first half, but the Spartans hit 9-of-19 from long distance and forced 18 Eagle turnovers.
Chattanooga 77, Western Carolina 57CULLOWHEE, N.C. --- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball team won its 21st consecutive Southern Conference regular season game Saturday afternoon with a 77-57 victory over Western Carolina at the Ramsey Center. Chattanooga improves to 13-3 overall and remains undefeated in league action at 5-0 while the Catamounts fall below .500 at 7-8 and 1-3 in SoCon play.
Freshman Chelsey Shumpert scored a game-high 16 points while senior Taylor Hall had 15 and classmate Ashlen Dewart was the third UTC player in double figures with 11 points and a game-high six rebounds.
Shumpert was 6-of-10 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers and was 2-of-2 from the free throw line while adding in three rebounds and three assists. Hall was 6-of-9 from the field with five rebounds and six assists.
Chattanooga got out front early with the first six points of the game forcing Western Carolina to call for time. That would pull the Cats back into the game. UTC’s largest lead of the first half was 13 points on a jumper by Hall at the 8:12 mark.
The second half saw Chattanooga stretch its lead with a 15-4 run over the first 5:31 of the period to make it 52-33 with 14:29 to play. Less than a minute later senior Alex Black (Memphis, Tenn.) drained a 3-pointer to make it 55-35 and would close out the game with nine points.
Western Carolina put together a quick 9-2 run over the next 3:05 to cut the lead to 13, 57-44 with 9:51 to play, but UTC outscored the Catamounts 20-12 over the remainder of the game for its ninth straight win on the season.
Senior Meghan Downes was 2-of-3 from the 3-point line and had eight points on the day with four assists and one steal. Freshman Moses Johnson was 3-of-5 for the game with seven points.
Chattanooga outscored WCU 32-20 in the paint and scored 17 points off 16 Catamount turnovers. Western Carolina’s bench contributed 37 points compared to UTC’s 21.
Furman 82, Wofford 58GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Whitney Bunn scored a career high 20 points and Furman won its fourth straight game by defeating Wofford, 82-58, in Southern Conference women’s basketball action Saturday afternoon at Timmons Arena.
The victory, the ninth in the last 12 games for Furman (10-6, 4-1 SoCon), improved the Paladins to 22-0 all-time versus Wofford (3-12, 1-4 SoCon) in Greenville
Bunn, a 5-foot-7 freshman guard from Bunn, N.C., connected on 8-of-12 shots, including both 3-point attempts, and a pair of free throws for her 20 points, which she spiced with a game high five assists, three blocks, and two steals in 27 minutes of action.
Holli Wilkins followed with 14 points, and Brittany Hodges tallied 12 points along with a career high 14 rebounds in just 21 minutes of action. Allison Beasley rounded out Furman’s double figure scoring parade with 11 points.
Beasley’s performance featured 3-for-6 shooting from 3-point range, highlighting a season best 8-for-12 shooting effort for the Paladins beyond the arc. Furman connected on 51.0 percent of its shots from the field (26-for-51) — its second best outing of the season.
Logan Morris led Wofford with 16 points, and Ashton Fleming added 13 and Laruen Kirby 12 points for the Terriers.
Furman wasted little time in taking control, breaking an early 9-9 tie with a 10-1 run to go up 19-10 on a Hodgles layup nine minutes into the contest.
Leading 42-30 at intermission, Furman scored the first five points of the second half and got a Beasley 3-pointer at the 16:12 mark to increase the advantage to 50-32.
Brigid Morrissey’s two free throws stretched the lead to 54-34 with a 12:55 to go, and the Paladins cruised the rest of the way.
Hodges had 10 of her career high 14 rebounds by halftime, helping the Paladins post a 46-28 advantage on the boards.
Wofford was limited to just 30.8 percent shooting (20-of-65) from the field.
The win closed a perfect home stand (3-0) for Furman, which also improved to 6-1 at home this season.