Appalachian State 71, Elon 60BOONE, N.C. - Appalachian State University was led by Maryah Sydnor's 21 points and 12 rebounds in their win against Elon on Monday night, 71-60.
The Mountaineers (11-14, 8-7 SoCon) had four players score in double-figures, propelling them over the Phoenix (12-13, 8-6) for a split series between the teams.
The Apps started strong, shooting their way to a 10-3 lead in the first four minutes of the game. The Mountaineers would continue to find baskets, going on a 7-0 run with 8:55 left in the first half. Elon's Jessica Farmer would cut the lead to eight points at the 5:25 mark but Appalachian responded with six points of their own.
Despite scoring the final three points of the first half, the Phoenix trailed 40-29 at halftime.
The Mountaineers shot 47.2 percent (17-36) from the floor during the first half. Sydnor led the team in the first with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Elon recorded a 34.5 percent (10-29) field goal percentage with Farmer leading in points with eight in the first half.
The second half began with much of the same as App continued to lead 48-35 with 16:34 to play. Elon scored the next seven points, including a deep three from Zora Stephenson, to come within six points of the Mountaineers.
Less than one minute later, with 12:48 to play, Stephenson would hit another three and Elon would find two more points to make the score 49-47. The Apps scored five points in a row to lengthen their lead, but Stephenson would hit another one from behind the arc making the score 56-51 with 8:36 left in the game.
Appalachian began to battle back, going on an 11-3 run to lead the game 67-58 with 2:17 remaining. Sydnor would close the game out with two free throws with 36 seconds left, helping the Mountaineers to a 71-60 victory.
Sydnor led the team, posting a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds, followed by KeKe Cooper's 16 points and eight boards.
Bria Huffman came up big for App State on the day, recording 14 points, while Katie Mallow had 10. Jessica Barrios started for the third time in three games, dishing out six assists.
The Mountaineers shot 41.2 percent in the win, while grabbing 48 rebounds and committing 16 turnovers.
Elon was led by Stephenson and Lauren Brown, who each notched 14 points. Kelsey Harris had nine rebounds for the Phoenix.
The Phoenix recorded a 36.5 field goal percentage, finding 39 rebounds and 19 turnovers.
Western Carolina 63, UNCG 51CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Behind sophomore forward Erika Joseph’s first career double-double, 16 points and 14 rebounds, Western Carolina women’s basketball staved off UNCG 63-51 Monday in the Ramsey Center.
Joseph became the first Catamount to record a double-double this season. Her 16 points ties her career high and the 14 rebounds is a career best for the Lilburn, Ga. native. In fact, it is the first time in her career she has ripped down double figure rebounds In a game.
Western Carolina’s win over the Spartans halts a three-game winning streak. The win secures the first series sweep of the season for WCU. The Catamounts improve to 12-14 on the season and 6-9 in the Southern Conference. UNCG falls to 6-19 and 2-12 in the SoCon.
The Catamounts set the tone early scoring the first four points of the game and built a double digit lead four times in the first half, with its largest lead of 15 points coming with 5:38 left in the half. Western Carolina rode a 6-2 run to build the ead capped off by a jumper by freshman Alexis Carter.
UNCG proved why it is such a volatile and scrappy team when it shook off the 15 point deficit and whittled the Catamount lead to four points at the half. The Spartans put together an 11-0 run in the final five minutes of the half to trail 32-28.
Western Carolina opened the second half the way it did to start the game scoring the first four points pushing its four point half time lead to eight, 36-28. UNCG kept pressing and again cut the Catamount lead to four off a three pointer by Bailey Williams, the Spartans’ only trey of the game, and a layup by Lucy Mason putting the score 38-34.
Makensey Campbell squelched the UNCG scoring knocking down a three pointer, one of six in the game for WCU, to push the Catamount lead back to seven, 41-34. UNCG kept the game in single digits until 9:44 left in the game when Rena Wakama hit a lay-up to make the score 51-40.
UNCG would slice the Catamount lead to single digits one more time in the game, 51-42, when Whitney Coleman hit a lay-up at 9:16. Campbell answered with her third three pointer of the game pushing the Western Carolina lead back to double digits, 54-42, and the Spartans would never cut the WCU lead to single digits again.
Campbell’s three-pointer sparked a 12-9 run by Western Carolina in the final nine minutes of the game to secure the win. UNCG began fouling WCU at with two minutes left and the Catamounts were 7-of-8 from the free throw line.
Western Carolina ripped down 44 rebounds to UNCG’s 42 holding the Spartans to 15 offensive boards and the Catamounts getting 23 defensive rebounds. Another key state was UNCG’s 24 trips to the free throw line only hitting 14.
Senior guard Rena Wakama added 11 points for the Catamounts, the only other player for Western Carolina to score in double figures. Also, all 13 eligible Catamount players saw action in the game with 10 of the 13 scoring.
Lucy Mason led UNCG with 13 points and Janae’ Stevenson had 10 rebounds.
Furman 51, Samford 45GREENVILLE, S.C. -- Holli Wilkins scored 16 points and Brittany Hodges tallied 12 points and a game high 15 rebounds along with six blocks to lead Furman past Samford, 51-45, in Southern Conference women’s basketball action Monday evening at Timmons Arena.
The win gave Furman (14-11, 8-6 SoCon) the season split with Samford (9-17, 7-8 SoCon) and moved the Paladins into a third place tie with Elon in the league standings. The triumph also improved Furman to 9-2 at home and to 6-1 against SoCon opposition in Timmons Arena this season.
Wilkins’ layup with 5:45 remaining in the game gave the Paladins a 42-37 lead and keyed a 7-1 spurt that featured a layup by Whitney Bunn and three-point play by Hodges, which stretched the advantage to 47-38.
Bunn added another layup with a minute remaining for a 49-40 lead and finished off her 12-point performance by draining a pair of free throws with 20 seconds left.
Wilkins, Furman’s leading scorer this season, converted 6-of-11 shots, including 1-of-2 3-pointers, and 3-of-4 free throws for her 16 points.
Hodges, the SoCon’s reigning player of the week, continued her strong work this season by notching her 13th double-double of the campaign and fifth such performance in the last six games. The league’s top rebounder (9.5 rpg), the junior forward’s solid work on the boards helped Furman post a 37-30 rebounding advantage.
The Paladins’ rebounding margin and season high nine blocked shots offset strong perimeter shooting by Samford, which canned 7-of-16 attempts from 3-point range. The Bulldogs, who entered the contest shooting 30.9 percent from beyond the arc, made 15-of-32 treys in the two meetings with Furman this season.
Christy Robinson led Samford with 14 points, and Brittany Stevens followed with 10 points.
Furman, which never trailed in the game, led by as many as seven points in the first half before heading in intermission with a 26-22 lead.
The Paladins twice built eight-point advantages over the first six minutes of the second half following baskets by Allison Beasley and Wilkins, but both times Samford clawed back. A Robinson layup with 7:02 to go pulled the Bulldogs to within three at 40-37, but two possessions later Wilkins banked in a shot from the right side of the lane to ignite the Paladins’ decisive 7-1 run.
Furman finished the game shooting 38.8 percent from the field (19-of-49), while Samford made 18-of-48 shots (37.5 percent).
Chattanooga 64, Wofford 48SPARTANBURG, S.C. --- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior Taylor Hall matched her career-high to lead UTC to a 64-48 Southern Conference win over Wofford Monday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
After sitting the bench for 16 minutes of the first half with two fouls, Hall more than made up for the lost time with a strong second half scoring 23 of her career-high 25 points and pulled down eight rebounds. She scored the first 11 points of the latter period, pushing UTC’s lead from 27-25 at halftime to 38-30 with 13:43 to play.
Senior Ashlen Dewart with a season-high 12 rebounds, paired with sophomore Tatianna Jackson to score the next five. Hall drained a pair of 3-pointers for Chattanooga’s next six points, and UTC had its largest lead of the game to that point at 49-36 and would go on to get the 64-48 victory.
Wofford’s Jordan Frazier, wearing a mask to shield a broken nose, was the Terrier’s “Girl Friday” in the first half with 13 points on 5-of-14 from the field with one 3-pointer and a pair of free throws to go along with three steals. Chattanooga was able to contain her the second half as she made just 1-of-6, a trey, and was 1-of-2 from the free throw line. She did, however, manage another two steals for a game-high five on the night and led Wofford with 17 points.
Wofford led four times to in the first 4:19 of the game before UTC went on a 7-0 run to take a 13-8 lead with 13:50 to go until halftime. The Terriers wouldn’t be kept down and battled back to get out front before intermission. With 7:51 on the clock, Ashton Fleming drained a 3-pointer to cut UTC’s lead to 17-14, sparking a 9-2 run. She hit both free throws 3:31 later to cap off the run and give Wofford a 20-19 advantage.
UTC outscored the Terriers 8-5 in the final stretch and retook the lead to lead 27-25 at the break.
Wofford started the second half with a 3-pointer from Lauren Kirby to take its final lead of the game 28-27 just 10 seconds into the period. Hall would go on to outscore the Terriers 11-2 and Chattanooga secured its 31st consecutive Southern Conference victory. Chattanooga has won 19 straight regular season games, fourth longest active streak in the nation.
The Mocs edged Wofford 30-24 in the paint and had 21 points off 16 turnovers by the Terriers compared to six Wofford points on nine UTC miscues. Chattanooga had just six offensive rebounds, but made the most of each one with 11 points. Wofford edged UTC on the boards 37-26 while UTC’s bench outscored the Terriers 14-4.
Senior Alex Black was 4-of-4 from the free throw line in the final minutes of play and had 10 points and four rebounds in 36 minutes. Freshman Aryanna Gilbert had five points and a team-best four steals. Dewart had six points and a game-high 12 rebounds along with two assists.
Wofford’s Chanel Stokes was 3-of-5 on the night with a pair of free throws for eight points while Kirby and Fleming each had seven points and seven rebounds.
Chattanooga was 23-of-51 for the game and made 3-of-12 from beyond the arc while hitting 15-of-22 free throws. Wofford was 17-of-56 for the game and 4-of-14 from the 3-point line. In the first half, the Terriers were 7-of-8 from the charity stripe and just 3-of-5 in the second period.
The Mocs improve to 23-3 overall and 15-0 in league play while the Terriers fall to 5-19 on the year and 3-11 against the conference. The win was UTC’s 11th straight on the road, second best in the nation.