Western Carolina 75, Furman 70
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Western Carolina’s Justin Taylor scored a career-high 26 points off the bench and hit four free throws in the final 13 seconds as the seventh-seeded Catamounts knocked off No. 2 seed Furman 75-70 on Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Championship at Kimmel Arena.
WCU (15-16) will take on either No. 3 seed Davidson or No. 6 seed Samford in the semifinals at the U.S. Cellular Center on Sunday. Western Carolina will be making its first semifinals appearance since 2009, when it won the tournament in Chattanooga, Tenn.
Taylor was 5-for-11 from the floor and 3-for-4 from 3-point range but scored half her points at the free-throw line, where she was 13-for-13. The junior transfer from Louisburg Community College paced four Catamounts in double figures, as Rena Wakama had 18 points and Erika Joseph and Shauna Terry had 11 each.
Furman was led by Sarah Durdaller, who scored 19 points, while Holli Wilkins had 15 and Brittany Hodges added 10.
The Paladins (18-12) had their largest lead of the day at 59-54 with just over five minutes left, but the Catamounts – who led by as many as eight in the opening half – outscored Furman 21-11 over the final 5:14 to spring the upset.
Taylor got the run going with a 3-pointer to make it a one-possession game again, but a Wilkins jumper made it 59-54. Wakama sandwiched a 3 and a jumper around a pair of Durdaller free throws as WCU pulled within two points at 61-59 with 3:40 to play.
A Hodges free throw made it a three-point game again, but Wakama converted a three-point play with 2:47 to go to tie it at 62.
Senior Brigid Morrisey briefly put Furman back on top with a pair of free throws with 2:22 left, but Terry answered with a pair on the other end to put WCU back on top to stay.
Hodges hit another free throw with 1:14 left to bring the Paladins back within a point at 66-65, but Western Carolina went 7-for-8 from the line in the final minute of play. Durdaller’s 3-pointer with 14.7 seconds left again drew the Paladins within a point, but Taylor iced the game with a pair of makes from the free-throw line with 13 seconds remaining.
After a fairly even first 10 minutes of play in the game, Western Carolina pulled away midway through the opening half, with Alex Abraham’s free throw putting the Catamounts on top 22-14 with 4:22 to go in the frame. WCU took a 28-22 lead into the locker room at the break.
Furman chipped away at the lead to open the second half, with Tiara Wood’s three-point play bringing the Paladins back within a point at 38-37 with 13:08 to go. Hodges’ three-point play put Furman on top for the first time on the day at 46-45, and the Paladins would get seven points from Durdaller in an 15-6 run that turned a three-point deficit into a nine-point lead before the Catamounts made their decisive run to end the game.
Davidson 55, Samford 42
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Third-seeded Davidson got 26 points from Laura Murray and 14 from Dakota Dukes in a 55-42 win over No. 6 seed Samford on Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Championship at Kimmel Arena.
The Wildcats (15-15) will take on No. 7 seed Western Carolina in Sunday’s semifinals at U.S. Cellular Arena.
Davidson led by as many as 18 and never saw its lead dip below 10 points after the 12:25 mark in the second half.
Neither team could find its shooting touch, as the Wildcats shot 35.1 percent from the floor (20-for-57) and Samford was just 14-for-57 from the field (24.6 percent).
Murray was the only Wildcat to shoot more than 50 percent from the floor, going 10-for-18, including a 4-for-6 mark from 3-point range.
It was Murray that put Davidson ahead for good in the first half, hitting a 3-pointer with just over seven minutes gone that made it 7-4 in favor of the Wildcats. The Bulldogs would never get closer than two points again.
A Kassidy Blevins 3-pointer to open the second half drew Samford within two at 24-22, but Murray and Dukes had three points each in a 6-0 run that opened up some breathing room for the Wildcats.
Samford briefly got its deficit back down to six points, but Dukes’ three-point play with 12:25 to go in the game made it a double-digit affair for good. A pair of Alex Long free throws with 9:20 to go capped a 9-0 Davidson run that blew the game open.
Murray’s 3-pointer with just under five minutes left gave the Wildcats their biggest lead of the night at 49-31. The teams would trade points over the next few minutes before the Bulldogs ended the game on a 5-0 run for the final margin.
Blevins had a team-high 13 points for Samford, which started four freshmen.
Davidson’s Rachel Piles had a game-high 10 rebounds.
Davidson will be making its third consecutive semifinals appearance.
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