Women’s Basketball Notes, January 4, 2010
Women's basketball notes and game recaps for week ending January 3, 2010.
BREVARD - In their only game this week, the Tornados lost 85-76 to Mars Hill in overtime ... Brevard had trailed Mars Hill by as many as 22 points before scoring 18 unanswered points and finishing the last minutes of the first half outscoring the Lions 22-6 ... Conference leading scorer Samantha Winn recorded her fourth double-double of the year scoring 24 points and pulling down 16 rebounds ... Winn also scored the last second three point shot in regulation to tie the game ... Point guard, Anna Schlobohm, chipped 13 points, five assists, and a blocked shot for the Tornados, while freshman Asheley Watkins led the defense with three steals ... The Tornados return to action against Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday.
CARSON-NEWMAN - No. 22 Carson-Newman moved to 12-0 on the season with a 2-0 mark in SAC play as the Lady Eagles defeated Augusta State 76-46 on the road Wednesday and Newberry 86-73 at home Saturday afternoon ... C-N is now off to its best start in school history and has six wins against Peach Belt Conference opponents (five on the road) ... The Lady Eagles' 30-point win over Augusta State Wednesday swept the season series from the Lady Jaguars ... Senior Ashley Kyle led all scorers with 15 points and added four assists, three rebounds and three steals while senior Shari Buford posted a double-double (12 points and 10 rebounds) with four steals and three blocks as well ... Carson-Newman shot 49.3 percent (33-for-67) for the game and hit six three pointers while Augusta State was 19-for-47 from the floor (40.4 percent) ... On Saturday, the Lady Eagles shot 47.8 percent (32-for-67) from the field against Newberry and placed five players in double figures ... Buford led the way with 15 points, nine rebounds and five blocks ... Junior Mandy Mendenhall had 13 points, three rebounds and three assists while Kyle, sophomore Zoriah Williams and freshman Candis Clear each reached double figures in scoring for C-N ... The Lady Eagle bench outscored their Newberry counterparts 25-0 ... Carson-Newman is idle on Wednesday and will return to the court on Saturday when it travels to Mars Hill to take on the Lions at 2:00 p.m.
CATAWBA - The Catawba women started the post-Christmas schedule with a pair of dissapointing losses at the Daytona Beach shootout ... Catawba led virtually the entire way against NAIA No. 8-ranked Lee University, but fell at the end 60-56 ... In its second game at the Shootout, Catawba raced to a 17-4 lead against Clarion then stumbled to a 79-62 defeat ... The Lady Indians snapped the slide with a come-from-behind 66-61 win over the University of the Cumberlands on Sunday ... The Lady Indians led Lee 23-9 after ten minutes and held a 38-28 edge at the break ... After shooting 50 percent in the first half, Catawba dropped off to just 29 percent in the final half and scored just 18 points ... The Lady Indians led 54-44 with 8:39 to play and scored one field goal the rest of the way ... Despite the cold spell, Catawba held the lead until the final minutes ... Lee tied the game with 2:18 left and took the lead with 1:46 remaining ... Lee heated up after a 30 percent shooting effort in the first half, hitting on 52 percent in half two ... Dana Hicks had 12 points and nine rebounds to lead Catawba ... Milica Ivanovic and Nisha Long each had 10 points ... The strong start against Clarion had the Lady Indians up 13 after eight minutes, but Clarion pulled even by the half ... The Eagles scorched the nets with 67 percent shooting in the second half to race away for the win ... Clarion held a huge 49-33 edge on the boards ... Hicks and Ivanovic each tallied 12 points ... Catawba would not hold a lead against the University of the Cumberlands until Elizabeth Merritt sank two free throws with 3:04 remaining for a 60-58 advantage ... Catawba added six free throws over the final 1:37 to post the win and survived two missed Patriot three-pointers in the final 30 seconds before Long iced the game with three ticks left ... Catawba's last 12 points (over the final five minutes) came at the line and the defense held UC to just three points over that span and a mere seven points over the last 11 minutes ... The Lady Indians trailed by a dozen with 13:38 to go before the rally ... Long scored 19 points and had eight rebounds for Catawba ... Ivanovic added 18 points and seven boards with Hicks following with 13 points and nine rebounds ... The Lady Indians shot just 31 percent in the second half, but made its last 13 at the line and went 20-of-23 at the stripe for the game ... Hicks leads Catawba in scoring (14.1) and rebounding (9.1) ... Long is also scoring 14.1 points a game and is dishing out nearly four assists ... Ivanovic is the third double figure scorer at 12.5 per contest ... Catawba will host Wingate on Wednesday and travel to Tusculum on Saturday in league action this week.
LENOIR-RHYNE - The No. 23 Lenoir-Rhyne University women's basketball team (9-3, 2-0) remained unbeaten in South Atlantic Conference play with a 75-60 victory over Tusculum College (7-4, 1-1) last Saturday night at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium … Senior guard Jami Safrit (Hickory, N.C.) nearly recorded a triple-double with 12 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds as the Bears defeated the Pioneers for the third straight contest … The two teams shared the league regular season title last year while L-R prevailed over Tusculum by a 66-57 score in the Food Lion SAC Tournament Championship … Sophomore guard Cameron Sealey (Gastonia, N.C.) led all scorers with 16 points while senior center Denise Moore (Newport News, Va.) finished with a double-double (11 points and 11 rebounds) for L-R, who led by as many as 19 points in the second half and held Tusculum to just 33 percent shooting (23-of-69) in the second half … The Bears also improved to 4-0 at home this year and won its tenth straight South Atlantic Conference Regular Season game at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium … L-R split its two games last weekend at the Heritage Bank Holiday Classic in Morrow, Ga. … Lenoir-Rhyne defeated No. 21 Lander, 77-71, to hand the Lady Bearcats their first loss of the year on Tuesday (December 29) before falling to the host school, No. 15 Clayton State, by a 75-72 score on Wednesday, December 30 … Against Lander, senior guard Amber Holt (Charlotte, N.C.) led all scorers with 24 points while Safrit added 17 in the victory … Five players scored in double figures for Lenoir-Rhyne, including a team-high 16 points from senior guard Brittany Mitch (McLean, Va.), despite the setback to Clayton State … Holt has now moved into sixth place on L-R's all-time scoring list with 1,313 points and fourth in career assists with 357 … Moore (915) and Safrit (908) look to become the 15th and 16th players to score 1,000 points in school history … Lenoir-Rhyne hits the road for a pair of South Atlantic Conference games against Brevard (Wednesday at 6 p.m.) and Newberry (Saturday at 2 p.m.) … L-R leads the all-time series with both Brevard (6-0) and Newberry (21-12).
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - The Lady Railsplitters traveled to Milledgeville, GA, to play in the Georgia College and State Holiday Classic … First up was the host team, who used a late run to pull out the 75-70 win over LMU … LMU (2-7) was led by Carolyn Mills with 21 points … Dayshalee Salaman added in 16 points and Amberly O'Dell scored 11 points … Blandine Kikwiki Mamuku led the Lady Railsplitters with 10 rebounds … Next up for LMU was UNC Pembroke. LMU kept hanging around but were never able to grab onto the lead for good as they lost 85-80 … LMU was led in scoring by Salaman's 23 points while O'Dell turned in a 22 point performance … Junior forward Whitney Holmes led LMU on the glass with 11 boards … Next up was the first game of 2010 at Wingate … A 21-2 run in the early minutes of the second half allowed Wingate to pull ahead for the 78-69 win … The Lady Railsplitters committed 24 turnovers in their second conference loss of the year … LMU was led by the outside shooting of guards Carolyn Mills and Dayshalee Salaman. Mills finished with a game-high 24 points on 8-17 shots from the field, including 6-8 3-pointers. Salaman put in 23 points on 7-15 shooting from the field, hitting two 3-pointers and knocking down 7-8 at the free throw line … The Lady Railsplitters fall to 2-9 overall and 0-2 in league play … The Lady Railsplitters will play at longtime rival Tusculum College on Wednesday. LMU leads the overall series with Tusculum 33-21 but Tusculum is currently riding a nine game winning streak over LMU.
MARS HILL - Mars Hill split its games last week. The Lions lost at Belmont Abbey and then won their SAC opener against Brevard. MHC is now 5-8 overall and 1-0 in the SAC … In the first game of the week, Mars Hill defeated Belmont Abbey 66-59 on Wednesday afternoon at the Wheeler Center … Mars Hill was led by Brittini Young's (Ramseur, N.C.) game-high 29 points on 9-15 shooting, including four three-point field goals on six tries. Taylor Deal (Catawba, N.C.) led all players with 11 rebounds and dished out three assists, blocked two shots and recorded a steal … The team shot 54.5 percent from the field and 45 percent from three-point range … Belmont Abbey shot 29 percent from the floor … The Abbey bolted out to a 7-1 lead in the early moments, but Mars Hill gradually cut into the lead and would take it for good at 11-10 with 12:07 left in the first half … The cushion went as high as nine points, and Mars Hill scored the final five points of the stanza to take a 32-26 lead into the half … Mars Hill never relinquished its lead in the second half, which grew to as many as 13 points at 60-47 with 6:13 left, but the Abbey mounted one final charge, getting as close as four points behind a 9-0 run to close Mars Hill's cushion to 60-56 with 2:52 left … Mars Hill would regroup by outscoring the Abbey 6-3 in the final 2:26 to hang on for the win … In the second game of the week, Taylor Deal scored 21 points and tied her career high by pulling down 15 rebounds to lead Mars Hill to a 85-76 overtime win over SAC rival Brevard College in Stanford Arena Saturday afternoon to extend their winning streak to 21-0 against the Tornados … The Lions lost a 22-point first half lead but were able to find a way to hold on for the win … After Samantha Winn (Candler, N.C.) hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into overtime, MHC out scored the Tornados 17-8 in the extra period to seal the win … Brittini Young (Ramseur, N.C.) followed Deal (Catawba, N.C.) with 24 points hitting 11-13 free throws … The Lions controlled the first 10 minutes of the game, out scoring the Tornados 32-10. The Tornados chipped away at the lead with a 9-0 run led by the six points, two assists, two rebounds and a steal by Asheley Watkins in just four minutes … Brevard continued the run, extending it to 18-0 before Mars Hill finally scored with 2:23 left in the half when Beth Miller (Burlington, N.C.) converted a foul shot … Krystal Moore (Summerfield, N.C.) helped the Lions cause by making a last second, half-court shot to make the score 38-31 at the intermission … Brevard outscored the Lions 21-6 in final ten minutes of the half, led by Watkin's and Amanda Whitaker's six points … Mars Hill maintained their lead through the second half. Brevard did not tie or lead the game until a pair of Winn free throws tied the game at 62-all with 1:40 remaining … Mars Hill regained their lead, but a pair of shots from beyond the arc kept the Tornados battling … First, a Holli Flippo three pointer with eight seconds remaining, then a last second Winn three pointer sent the game into overtime tied at 70 … The Lions outscored the Tornados 17-8 in overtime making the final 85-76 … Mars Hill boasted four players in double figures, as Moore and Katie Buckner (Canton, Ga.) joined Young and Deal with 13 and 10 points, respectively … MHC will play at SAC foe Newberry College on Wednesday night before hosting Carson-Newman College on Saturday.
NEWBERRY - Newberry was bested in two tough road contests this week, falling to Division I Davidson and Carson-Newman … Davidson and Newberry each had to knock the rust off after their holiday breaks, as the first four minutes of the game saw only two points, seven turnovers and 11 missed field goals between the two teams … Davidson finally converted a layup attempt, but then Newberry exploded out to a 12-2 run immediately after to lead by eight points midway through the opening half … The scarlet and gray saw their biggest lead of the half four minutes later when Keisha Henderson (Columbia, S.C.) made a move to the basket and converted a tough layup to put Newberry up by nine … Newberry led by two at halftime … In the last few minutes of the game, Newberry saw several close field goal attempts somehow rattle out of the cylinder ... Newberry created several key stops on defense, but couldn't get baskets to fall at the other end and eventually saw the game slip away … The scarlet and gray continued to show improvement on free throws, going 11-13 (84.6 percent) in the game ... Newberry outrebounded the Wildcats 47-45 as well … Leanne Watson (Stone Mountain, Ga.) led all players in the game with 16 rebounds on the night. She also had six points and two steals ... Helen McKinney (Owensboro, Ky.) led Newberry's scorers with 12 points ... Anita Bulcher (Russia, Ohio) had 10 points and eight rebounds in the effort … Against Carson-Newman, Newberry couldn't minimize its turnovers en route to an 86-73 loss … The Lady Eagles menaced Newberry with a highly effective full-court press and successfully turned Newberry's turnovers into quick points … The Lady Eagles managed 23 points off of Newberry turnovers … Newberry outrebounded Carson-Newman 44-38 in the game but shot only 37.5 percent (24-64) from the field … The Lady Eagles shot 47.8 percent (32-67) from the field … McKinney ended the day ahead of all scorers with 32 points, her career high. Watson managed a double-double with 19 points and 12 rebounds … Newberry returns home to face off against Mars Hill in another SAC competition on Wednesday, January 6 … The action is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. in Eleazer Arena.
TUSCULUM - The Tusculum women's basketball team posted a 1-1 worksheet last week, registering a record-breaking 117-38 win over Virginia Intermont on Wednesday before falling to No. 23 Lenoir-Rhyne 75-60 in South Atlantic Conference action on Saturday … Tusculum set two single-game conference records and four program marks, while posting the third-highest single-game steals total in NCAA Division II history against Virginia Intermont on Wednesday …The Pioneers topped their own conference record for field goals made in a game, connecting on 47 shots from the floor to best their previous mark of 46, set against Converse on Jan. 15, 2008 … Tusculum also set a new program- and SAC-record with 35 steals against the Cobras, eclipsing the previous conference mark by five and shattering the school record of 26, set against Bryan College on Dec. 10, 1991 … The Pioneers established a pair of new Pioneer Arena records for points scored (117) and margin of victory (79), shattering the previous marks set against North Greenville on Jan. 13 of last year … Tusculum also posted its highest forced turnovers total as a member of the NCAA Division II, forcing 42 changes of possession while holding the Cobras to a 37 percent clip from the floor, including a 23.8 percent mark in the second half … The Pioneers also won the battle on the glass in decisive fashion, out-rebounding VIC by a 47-20 margin, including a 23-6 advantage on the offensive boards … Jasmine Gunn led all scorers with 23 points on a perfect 10-for-10 shooting on Wednesday, dishing out four assists and tying a career-high with nine steals … Freshman Kendal Baxter continued her hot shooting from beyond the arc, knocking down 6-of-11 attempts from downtown to finish the night with 20 points in addition to a career-high three steals … Three other Pioneers scored in double figures against Virginia Intermont as Kat Spears (13), Jasmine Parker (12), and Catherine Hintz (12) joined Gunn and Baxter in double-digit scoring on the night … Parker also dished out a game-high five assists while Hintz paced the Pioneers with eight rebounds … Gabrielle Harvey and Chelsea McGowen posted career-highs on the night, each pouring in eight points while fellow freshman Fayola Moise scored six points in her collegiate debut … The Pioneers resumed their SAC schedule on Saturday at No. 23 Lenoir-Rhyne, falling to the Bears by a 75-60 margin while being held to a season-low field goal percentage of 33.3 percent … TC also struggled from the free throw line, posting a 54.2 percent mark from the charity stripe on 24 attempts (13 made) … The Pioneers out-rebounded the Bears 45-42 in the game, including a 23-13 margin on the offensive glass while forcing 23 turnovers and recording 10 steals … Spears and Hintz scored in double figures for the Pioneers, each pouring in 11 points and hauling down eight rebounds … Gunn and Staci Hicks each chipped in nine points, while Parker dished out a season-high seven assists to move past former Pioneer Shantae Shank on the program's all-time assists list, currently ranking 11th in school history with 230 career helpers … The Pioneers lead the conference in scoring (80.0) and field goal percentage (44.4), while ranking second in rebounding (43.9) and steals (134) … Tusculum is currently riding the second-longest active home winning streak in the nation, having notched 29 straight victories in Pioneer Arena dating back to Feb. 3, 2007 when the Pioneers knocked off LMU by a 73-59 score … Baxter has already put together one of the best rookie seasons in program history, having knocked down 41 three-pointers thus far, which is tied for the third-highest total by a freshman in school history … The Pioneers have six players averaging more than seven points per game, including the scoring duo of Gunn and Baxter, who have combined for an average of 30 markers per contest through 11 games … Spears is now within striking distance of the program's all-time blocked shots record, currently sitting third all-time with 120 career rejections, 21 behind former teammate Stephany Neptune's school-record total of 141 blocks … Gunn currently ranks in the top 10 in seven career categories, including assists (3rd/412), free throws made (5th/314), free throws attempted (7th/404,steals (8th/167), while ranking first all-time in program history with an average of 5.7 assists per game … Tusculum squares off against a pair of SAC opponents this week, hosting Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday and Catawba on Saturday.
WINGATE - The Wingate University women's basketball team put together a 19-0 run in the early stages of the second half, helping the Bulldogs take a 78-69 victory over Lincoln Memorial University Saturday afternoon in Cuddy Arena ... The South Atlantic Conference triumph gives the Bulldogs a 7-4 overall record and a 1-1 ledger in the SAC ... After going to the locker room trailing by two at the intermission, the Bulldogs tied the game only 21 seconds into the second half and unleashed an offensive attack to put the game out of reach. Freshman guard Sarah Wollett (Raleigh, N.C.) got the run started with a three at the 16:09 mark. Senior guard Sarah Rosser (Raleigh, N.C.) nailed a three on the next possession, followed by a three-point play from junior forward CC Brooks (Mount Holly, N.C.) ... A trifecta from junior guard Emily Parrish (Brevard, N.C.) followed by another Brooks layup and a free throw from Wollett capped the 19-0 run to make it 56-37 ... LMU would get no closer than 12 until junior guard Carolyn Mills (Nashville, Tenn.) hit a three at the buzzer for the final score ... Wingate shot 47.5 percent from the field on 28-of-59 shooting ... The Bulldogs knocked down six-of-12 shots from three-point range on the day ... Reigning South Atlantic Conference Player of the Week Kurie Washington (Marion, N.C.) carried the offensive attack. Washington hit five-of-nine shots from the field and eight-of-11 shots from the free throw line to finish the game with a team-high 18 points ... Wollett added 13 points, while Brooks contributed 12 points and five assists. Senior center Stacie Rhodes (Knightdale, N.C.) pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to go with four points, three blocks and two steals ... The victory gives the Bulldogs a 24-6 home record during head coach Barbara Nelson's three-year tenure ... Wingate travels to Catawba College on Wednesday, January 6 for a 6 p.m. start.