Elon 68, Georgia Southern 49
STATESBORO, Ga. – The Elon women’s basketball team put up a 19-point win, 68-49, over Georgia Southern tonight, Jan. 13, in Hanner Fieldhouse. The Phoenix is now 6-10 on the season and 2-3 in Southern Conference play, while the Eagles are 5-12 (3-3 SoCon).

The Phoenix finished 25-of-59 from the field and shot 42 percent, including five threes (33 percent), and scored 32 points in the paint. The Eagles were held to a 25 percent shooting clip, hitting only 17 of its 69 shots from the field. GSU did take the advantage from the charity stripe with a 71 percent mark, compared to Elon’s 54 percent, as well as the battle on the boards, 51-42.

 Elon put four players in double figures led by Kelsey Harris with 12 points. Jessica Farmer posted her first double-double of the season with 10 points and a team-high 10 rebounds. Lauren Brown and Shannen Cochraham each finished with 10 points. Jenifer Rhodes posted a career-high six blocks to help Elon to a season-high 11 blocked shots as a team.

 With the score tied at five-all a few minutes in, the Phoenix used a Harris jumper to spark a 9-0 run to take a 14-5 advantage, keeping GSU from a score for over five minutes. Elon took its biggest lead of the half, 31-13, after a layup by Rhodes and a free throw by Harris put the maroon and gold up by 18 with 3:59 on the clock. The Eagles hit a basket inside one minute remaining to make it a 33-17 score at the break.

 Elon went 12-of-32 in the first frame to shoot 38 percent, while GSU was held to seven field goals for a 23 percent mark. Both teams grabbed 22 rebounds in the first 20 minutes.

 In the second half, a three by Zora Stephenson at the 13:54 mark extended the Elon edge to 21, 40-19. With 5:48 on the clock, GSU’s Anna Claire Knight knocked down a three to help start a 10-3 Eagle run to bring GSU within 11, 57-46. Elon answered with an old fashioned three-point play by Cochraham and a layup by Farmer to move back ahead by 16, 62-46, with 2:39 to play.

Lauren Brown hit a dagger of a three with 40 seconds left to make it a 20-point game, 67-47, and keep the Eagles off course.

 

Chattanooga 73, Appalachian State 68
BOONE, N.C. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga seniors Taylor Hall and Faith Dupree combined for all 12 of UTC’s overtime points to lead Chattanooga to a 73-68 win over Appalachian State Monday night at the Holmes Convocation Center. Chattanooga (14-3) runs its win streak to 10 games and remains undefeated in Southern Conference action at 6-0.  Appalachian State falls to 5-10 overall and 2-3 in league play.

Senior Alex Black was 6-of-9 for the game for a career-high 17 points. She matched her career-best for 3-pointers with four and gave Chattanooga its largest lead at 50-43 on a net-snapper with 9:59 to play.

Appalachian State scored the next six points to cut the lead to 50-49 on a layup by Maryah Sydnor. With 8:20 to play. UTC senior Ashlen Dewart scored the next four points to stretch Chattanooga’s lead out to 54-49 at the 6:41 mark of the game, but Sydnor would combined with teammate KeKe Cooper to give the Mountaineers their first lead of the second half at 55-54 with 5:01 to play.

Hall connected on one free throw 45 seconds later to tie it up 55-55. She drained two more free throws and Black hit a layup to give UTC a 59-55 lead with 3:03 on the clock. App State scored the next three points connecting on 3-of-4 free throws to make it 59-58 with 2:31 to play.

Sophomore Alicia Payne scored her only points of the game on a layup to make it 61-58 and ASU got a layup and Cooper made just the second of two free throws to tie it 61-61 with 57 seconds to play.

Hall missed a shot and Sydnor grabbed the rebound but Cooper couldn’t get her shot to fall with eight seconds to play. Dewart grabbed the rebound and Hall ran the length of the court, but her 3-pointer from the top right wouldn’t fall, sending the game into overtime.

In the extra period, the two teams traded free throws. Hall’s two free throws tied the game for the eighth time 63-63 with 4:28 to play. ASU took the lead again on a layup by Bria Huffman and Chattanooga answered with a pair of free throws from Dupree for the ninth and final tie of the game at 65-65 with 3:14 to play.

Hall and Dupree combined for the next four points to give Chattanooga a 69-65 lead with 2:31 to play. App State’s final points would come on a free throw from Bria Carter with 51 seconds left on the clock. Hall would seal the win with two more free throws for the final tally, 73-68.

Hall recorded her eighth double-double of the year with 19 points and 10 rebounds and added in four assists and two steals. Black had 17 points with three assists and three steals while Dewart added in 12 points and four rebounds. Dupree, with four points in overtime, closed out the game with eight points, four rebounds and two assists.

Chattanooga started the game with four straight 3-pointers and held a six point lead twice in the half, but ASU would hang on to tie it up 26-26 at the half. After making 9-of-26 in the first half, Chattanooga stepped up its performance in the second making 11-of-25 (44%) and was 3-of-6 from the field in overtime. App State shot an impressive 66.7 percent in the first half and was 11-of-22 in the second half while making just 2-of-6 in overtime.

The Mountaineers edged UTC 26-24 in the paint while Chattanooga capitalized on 19 ASU turnovers, scoring 23 points compared to 15 points off 12 UTC miscues. Appalachian State had 35 rebounds to Chattanooga’s 30 while the Lady Mocs had nine points off 12 offensive boards. Chattanooga’s bench outscored ASU 19-10 led by Dupree’s eight and senior Meghan Downes’ seven. UTC’s 12 steals ties a team-best for the season.

ASU’s Maryah Sydnor, the SoCon leading scorer, led all scorers with 20 points and had 14 rebounds. After scoring 10 points in the first half, she was held to just six in the second and added four in overtime. KeKe Cooper had 17 points for ASU with nine rebounds and four assists and Huffman had 17 points and three assists.

 

Western Carolina 54, Samford 50
CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Senior guard Rena Wakama led all scorers with 19 points as Western Carolina women’s basketball (8-8, 2-3 Southern Conference) held on to defeat Samford (3-14, 1-5 SoCon) 54-50 Monday in the Ramsey Center.

The win halts Western Carolina’s three-game losing streak and pushes the Catamounts back to .500 with an overall record of 8-8. Western Carolina shot 44.2 percent from the field, its second-best shooting percentage of the season.

With 1:22 remaining, in the game, Samford sliced the Catamount lead to three when Lydia McGee drained a three-pointer to trail Western Carolina 50-47. Wakama, who seemed to be all over the court, dished a pass to Justin Taylor who drained a jumper with 1:01 left to make the score 52-47.

Wakama was at it again when she picked the pocket of McGee ending Samford’s offensive opportunity. Catamount Ali Lane was fouled, and hit 1-of-2 free throws, to push the lead to six, 53-47.

Samford wasn’t done, as McGee struck again for a lay-up and was fouled. She completed the three-point play when she sank her free throw to pull the Bulldogs to one score, 53-50.

Taylor put the game out of reach when she it 1-of-2 free throws with 19 seconds remaining. Samford’s Christy Robinson ripped down the rebound, after Taylor missed her second free throw, but the Bulldogs couldn’t convert. Ellen Riggins missed a three point attempt and Kassidy Blevins pulled down the rebound, but Samford couldn’t get off a second shot attempt and the clock ran out.

Western Carolina and Samford were tied at the half at 30. Samford was 2-for-2 from the three-point line, to close out the half and tie the game. With 1:48 left in the half, and the score tied at 28, junior Makensey Campbell hit a three-pointer for Western Carolina to take the lead 30-27. Hannah Nichols hit her second three-pointer, in a one minute span, to knot the game before the half.

Wakama was the full package in the game putting pressure on Samford on both sides of the court. The Raleigh, N.C. native added six rebounds, five steals and two assists to her 19 points. Taylor ended the game with 12. Robinson added 14 for Samford and McGee had 11.

Samford hit five three-pointers in the game which kept them in the game. Western Carolina connected on just two three pointers. The Bulldogs out-rebounded the Catamounts 37-36 and had 15 turnovers to Western Carolina’s 17.

 
Davidson 78, UNCG 59
DAVIDSON, N.C.  — Dakota Dukes, Hannah Early and Laura Murray combined for 59 points and Davidson's defense held UNCG to 31.9 percent shooting in rolling to a 78-59 Southern Conference win Monday night in women's basketball at John M. Belk Arena.
 
The Wildcats (8-9) ran their league mark to 5-1 and won their seventh straight SoCon game at home dating back to last year as they remained perfect this season at 4-0.
 
Dukes dominated inside, recording her second double-double in a row with 24 points and 10 rebounds, hitting 9-of-12 shots and swishing home all six free throws. She also pocketed four steals.
 
Early and Murray did the rest outside, getting 17 and 18 points, respectively, as they combined to go 6-for-13 from long range. Davidson shot 35 percent from three-land (7-20) and 43.7 percent overall from the field.
 
Rachel Piles came off the bench to pull in a game and career-high 11 rebounds to go with her five points.
 
UNCG (5-11, 1-4 SoCon) put a pair in double figures with Jade Scaife and Bailey Williams scoring 15 and 12 points, respectively.
 
Davidson tied or set a number of season highs in the 19-point win. It tied a season-high with 31 made field goals and 44 points in the paint, while setting new season bests with 47 first-half points, 21 assists, 18 steals and 30 points off 22 UNCG turnovers.
 
Four consecutive triples, three of them by Murray, broke open the game in the first half turning a 30-21 Wildcat lead in the first half to 42-25 with 1:31 left. Early capped off the three-point barrage to end the half with another three-ball for a 47-29 lead at the break.
 
Dukes took over in the second half, scoring 18 of her 24 points as Davidson led by as many as 26 (78-52) on a Piles' layup with 4:50 left.