Weekly SAC Women’s Basketball Notes - Jan. 9, 2007
Women's basketball game recaps and notes for week ending January 7, 2007
CARSON-NEWMAN - The Carson-Newman Lady Eagles lead the nation in rebounding margin in the latest NCAA Division II statistics released on December 31, 2006. Prior to Wednesday night's game against Lincoln Memorial, the Lady Eagles achieved a 16.9 rebound margin average. In 10 games, the Lady Eagles averaged 50.6 rebounds per game and limited opponents to 33.7 rebounds per game ... Four Lady Eagle players were listed in the top 100 in various categories. Point guard Casha Foster is 28th in the nation with 5.1 assists per game while freshman forward Shari Buford ranks 37th in blocked shots (1.8 per game) and 96th in rebounds per game (8.1 rebounds per game). Forward Stefanie Holbrook is 49th in three-point field goal percentage (40.4 percent) and 62nd in three-poing field goals per game (2.3). Emily Mason ranked 43rd in rebounds per game with 9.3 boards per contest ... Against Newberry, The Lady Eagles (10-2, 1-1 SAC) trailed 34-25 at halftime, but Tykira McDaniel pioneered the rally with two free throws, a steal, and a layup to get the Lady Eagles to within two at 51-49 with 8:36 remaining. Ashley Tipton's layup tied the game at 51-51 ... After a small Newberry run, Tipton banked in a jump shot, was fouled, and completed the three-point play with a free throw to put the Lady Eagles to within one point at 55-54. After another McDaniel steal, Tashea LedBetter swished a jumper to give C-N their first lead at 56-55, but Newberry's Ashley Marine hit a three-pointer and Tipton's jumper with 1:40 remaining were the last points C-N could muster as Newberry claimed the five-point victory ... The Lady Eagles shook off the Newberry loss and defeated Converse, 83-78 on Sunday, January 7. Carson-Newman (11-2) shot 50 percent from the field and three-point range in the second half. Holbrook connected on consecutive treys to give C-N a 42-31 lead early in the half ... Converse rallied to cut the C-N lead to three points on a Lauren Mueller jumper, but Cassie Burks responded with a triple while Tashea Ledbetter and Shari Buford made layups in the low post to reclaim an 11-point advantage at 57-46 with 10:22 to go ... Point guard Ashley Kyle swished her first three-pointer of the game and Tykira McDaniel hit a jumper to give C-N their largest lead of the game at 66-52 with six minutes remaining. Converse proceeded on an 18-7 run late in the game to pull within three points at 73-70. Ledbetter made two free throws while Ashley Tipton, McDaniel, and Holbrook combined to go seven-of-eight from the charity stripe in the final minute to claim the five-point victory.
CATAWBA - The Catawba women returned to action for the first time after Christmas and claimed a pair of wins over Lenoir-Rhyne and Brevard ... The ladies held the Bears to just 41 points then limited Brevard to 39 points ... on Wednesday, Catawba shook off a poor shooting night to record the 51-41 over Lenoir-Rhyne in its league opener ... Catawba shot just 29 percent for the contest, but LR hit a mere 27 percent ... Catawba also used a 20-14 edge in turnovers to outscore the visitors 23-10 off miscues ... The Lady Indians took the lead midway through the opening half and held the lead the rest of the way ... Catawba jumped to an 11-point edge early in the final half, but saw LR reduce the deficit to a single bucket with nine minutes to go ... the ladies would outscore the Bears 5-7 from there to grab the win ... Ne'Keithia Howard led the way with 18 points, canning 7-of-11 shots ... Corin Muldrow pulled down 10 rebounds and joined Brittany Higgins and Hillary Hampton with six points ... Catawba rolled to a non-conference win over Brevard at home on Saturday ... Hampton paced a balanced attack with 14 points as she hit on 5-of-6 shots, including all four of her three-point tries ... Higgins followed with nine points and Salita Childs had a career-best eight points off the bench ... The ladies shot 51 percent in the win and made nearly 60 percent in the opening half in building a 50-20 advantage ... Catawba help force 21 first-half turnovers by Brevard, who had 30 for the game ... the Tornado also shot just 27 percent and were out-rebounded by Catawba 41-29 ... Hampton is leading the team in scoring this season at 10.1 per game and is the only player averaging double figures ... Howard is added 9.7 a contest ... The ladies are a +3 in rebounding and a +5 in turnover margin ... Catawba will play three league games this week ... The Lady Indians travel to Wingate on Monday, host Tusculum on Wednesday and hit the road to Presbyterian on Saturday afternoon.
LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College women's basketball team (6-6, 0-2) dropped its first two games of the South Atlantic Conference portion of its schedule … L-R, which has lost four straight games, fell to Catawba (51-41) and Tusculum (58-50), both on the road, Wednesday and Saturday, respectively … L-R has now lost nine straight league games away from home … Against the Indians, the Bears shot just 27 percent (15-of-56) from the field in registering their season low in points … NeKeithia Howard scored 18 points to lead Catawba while Lenoir-Rhyne was paced sophomore center Denise Moore's (Newport News, Va.) double-double (10 points and 10 rebounds) … Moore was the lone player to score in double figures for the Bears, who did not fair much better at the free throw line (eight-for-18, 45 percent) … Lenoir-Rhyne struggles continued from the field against the Pioneers where the Bears shot just 33 percent (19-of-57) and turned the ball over 23 times … Tusculum's Chassity Martin lead all scores with 21 points including five treys in the Pioneers' win … Lenoir-Rhyne was led by freshman guards Amber Holt (Charlotte, N.C.) and Meredith Webster (High Point, N.C.) with 10 points apiece while freshman forward Jami Safrit (Newton, N.C.) added eight points, 11 rebounds and five assists despite the loss ... This week, Lenoir-Rhyne will host Presbyterian (Monday at 6 p.m.) and Newberry (Wednesday at 6 p.m.) before traveling to Mars Hill (Saturday at 2 p.m.) as the Bears try to get back in the SAC race … In the all-time series', Lenoir-Rhyne leads against Newberry (18-7) but trails against Presbyterian (29-7) and Mars Hill (32-26).
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - The Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team fell to 7-4 on the year and 0-1 in South Atlantic Conference play Wednesday evening when it lost the conference opener to the Lady Eagles of Carson-Newman College 76-68 ... The Lady Splitters controlled much of the first half, taking a 32-30 lead into the locker at the intermission. With the beginning of the season half, the Lady Eagles established the tempo and forced the LMU women into a defensive mode. Lincoln Memorial senior guard Madeline Richards (Floyds Knobs, IN) put in 18 points for the Lady Railsplitters, while senior Sidney Johnson (Cincinnati, OH) came in from the bench to contribute another 10. Johnson also tied for top rebounding honors on the LMU squad with six boards ... The Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team fell to 7-5 overall and 0-2 in the South Atlantic Conference with Saturday night's 61-49 loss to the Lady Bulldogs of Wingate University. Having lost to Carson-Newman in the conference opener on Wednesday night, and to the University of North Carolina-Central prior to that, the loss to Wingate puts the LMU women on a three-game losing streak after starting off the year at 7-2 going into the Christmas break ... Poor rebounding in the second half and low shooting percentage for the game were the contributing factors in Saturday evening's loss to Wingate. The Lady Splitters hit only 32.7 percent of their shots from the floor and allowed Wingate to take a commanding lead on the glass in the second half on the way to their fifth loss of the year ... LMU point-guard Betsy Bowser (Galveston, IN) led all scorers with 18 points, while Wingate's Tanetra Barrett and Kerri Metzker each made double figures with 15 points and 14 points respectively ... Lincoln Memorial falls to 7-5 overall and 0-2 in league play, while the Lady Bulldogs improve to 2-0 in the conference and 10-3 overall to go along with their No. 20 national ranking ... The LMU women will continue their search for their first South Atlantic Conference win on Monday night when they play host to the Lady Pioneers of Tusculum College at 6:00 p.m. in the Tex Turner Arena.
MARS HILL - Mars Hill's women's basketball team went 1-1 last week. They lost to the University of Charleston and then won their league opener at Presbyterian ... The Lions are now 7-4 overall and 1-0 in the SAC. In the first game of the week, MHC lost to the University of Charleston Wednesday night in Stanford Arena, 80-67. Jihann Williams (Cleveland, OH) hit a layup with 18:14 left in the first frame to break a 2-2 tie and Charleston never trailed again ... The Golden Eagles went on to lead by as many 17 points (35-18) with 5:07 left in the first half after Rachel Pike (Madison, OH) hit a shot in the lane. Charleston took a 41-28 lead into the locker room at halftime ... In the first 10 minutes of the second stanza, Charleston out scored MHC 23-to-14 to take their biggest lead of 22 points (64-42) with 10:08 on the clock after Courtney Thomas (Pataskala, OH) hit a foul shot ... MHC would not die as they went on a 17-to-7 run of their own over the next six minutes to trim the deficit to 12 points after Abby DeBusk (New Tazewell, TN) hit two free throws. Unfortunately, that was as close as the Lions could get. MHC scored 28 points in the paint, 12 off Charleston miscues, 14 second chance points and eight off the break ... Charleston out rebounded the Lions, 46-to-38. Charleston converted on 45.5 percent (30-66) of their field goals and 73.9 percent (17-23) of their foul shots. MHC hit 40.3 percent (27-67) of their field goal attempts. DeBusk led MHC with 19 points, five rebounds and three assists ... Allison Schafer (Advance, NC) followed with 18 points and six boards while Jessica Blanford (Concord, NC) added 11 points and eight rebounds. Williams led five players in double-figures for Charleston with 16 points and 10 rebounds to complete a double-double. Erica McElroy (Canton, OH) added 14 while Rachel Pike (Madison, OH) and Thomas scored 12 apiece. Veronica Carman (Cleveland, OH) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points ... In the second contest of the week, Jessica Blanford (Concord, NC) and Lindsay Roberts (Murphy, NC) led the Lions with 12 points and nine rebounds as Mars Hill College defeated Presbyterian College 64-61 in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball action on Saturday afternoon at the Templeton Center. Blanford was 6-for-10 from the field in the Lions' victory. Roberts sank four crucial free throws in the final 31 seconds to seal the Lions' victory ... The reigning SAC Player of the Week, Abby Debusk (New Tazewell, Tenn.) concluded her efforts in the contest with 11 points and five steals. The Lady Blue Hose had four players finish in double-digits in the loss ... Kerianne Blease (Saluda, S.C.) led the way for PC, nailing a career-high six three-pointers to end the game with 18 points ... Freshman Taylor Price had her best game in a PC uniform against Mars Hill. The Fort Bragg, N.C. native had her first career double-double in the loss, scoring a career-best 11 points and corralling a career-high 10 caroms. Morgan Johnson (Marietta, Ga.) had 10 points and Amy Jones (Warthen, Ga.) finished with 13 points in 27 minutes of action before having to leave the game late in the middle of the second stanza with an injury ... Mars Hill led the game by six points (30-24) at halftime. Presbyterian made up the points in the second half, leading by one at one point in the middle of the second half, but Mars Hill pulled back in front shortly thereafter and never looked back ... MHC will host SAC rival Newberry College at 6 p.m. on Monday night before playing at Carson-Newman College on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. and then host Lenoir-Rhyne College on Saturday at 2 p.m.
NEWBERRY - Newberry College entered South Atlantic Conference play riding a school record-tying 11-game win streak to start the season … The Lady Indians hosted No. 20 Wingate on Jan. 3, only to fall for the first time in the 2006-07 campaign by a margin of eight points, 63-55 … Junior guard Monica Alexander scored 20 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field … Alexander was also perfect from the free throw line, going 6-for-6 at the charity stripe … Junior forward Tonique Frasier had 18 points and eight rebounds in 37 minutes of play … Newberry had to regroup quickly from the first loss of the season as Carson-Newman came to Eleazer Arena just three days later … The Lady Indians fought off a resilient Lady Eagle team with junior guard Ashley Marine's deep three-pointer at the 2:57 mark lifting Newberry over Carson-Newman, which had taken a brief lead … Newberry held on for 63-58 victory and evened it's conference record to 1-1, 12-1 overall … Tonique Frasier was dominant, hitting 91 percent of her shots (10-of-11) for 20 points … Alexander finished with 16 points and six assists, while Ashley Marine collected nine points.
PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian fell in both of its conference games last week … The Lady Blue Hose have now lost three consecutive games … Amy Jones once again led PC last week, averaging 19 points-per-game in the two losses … Jones had 25 points in the Tusculum game … Morgan Johnson picked up her seventh double-double of the season in the game, tallying 21 points and 12 boards … Taylor Price had her best game in a PC uniform in the loss to Mars Hill … The freshman from Fort Bragg, N.C. had 11 points and 10 caroms.
TUSCULUM - The Tusculum women's basketball team (10-3, 2-0 SAC) is off to its first ever 2-0 start in South Atlantic Conference since joining the league eight years ago. Tusculum recorded home wins over Presbyterian College (80-75) and Lenoir-Rhyne College (58-50) ... In the win over PC, senior Brooke Underwood led the charge with a career-high 17 points, while dishing out 11 assists ... Underwood has recorded double-digit assists 18 times during her career as Tusculum has posted a 15-3 record in those outings. Underwood is averaging 9.5 assists per game, which leads the NCAA, all divisions ... Chassity Martin and Diana Neves added 15 and 13 points, respectively ... Martin led the way in Saturday's win over Lenoir-Rhyne. Martin poured in 21 points, including five 3-pointers. She broke the all-time school record with her 129 career three-point field goal, which are 10th in SAC history ... Ashli Oliver contributed 11 points, while Shantae Shank added seven points and matched a career-best with 11 rebounds ... Tusculum has won nine straight home games, including 7-0 at Pioneer Arena this year. TC begins a three-game road swing on Monday against Lincoln Memorial University. When Tusculum and LMU meet, it will mark the first time in 18 years that the two teams have met in conference play.
WINGATE - On Saturday evening, the number 20 Wingate women's basketball team never trailed en route to a 61-49 SAC victory over Lincoln Memorial University in Tex Turner Arena on the LMU campus. With the victory, Wingate improved to 10-3 overall and 2-0 in the SAC ... Bulldog senior guard Tanetra Barrett led the visitors with 15 points and 10 rebounds (her second double-double of the season). Wingate senior forward Kerri Metzker contributed 14 points and seven rebounds ... The contest matched two of the top coaches on the NCAA victory list. Wingate head coach Johnny Jacumin has 578 career wins, fourth on the NCAA Division II active coaches win list. LMU head coach Roger Vannoy is 12th on the NCAA wins list with 456 career victories. Saturday's contest was the first-ever meeting between the two coaching legends ... Wingate won the battle of the boards 42-34, led by Barrett's game-high 10 rebounds. Metzker and Paffrath grabbed seven boards each ... Wingate senior guard Petra Nagy hit three-of-four trifectas off the Bulldog bench. She had nine points in 20 minutes ... The number 20 Wingate women's basketball team defeated Newberry College 63-55 in the South Atlantic Conference opening game for both teams Wednesday night. The game was tied on nine occasions, including five in a 6:20 span in the second half. Wingate ended the game on an 11-3 run ... A jumper by Bulldog sophomore point guard Anna Atkinson started the flurry, giving Wingate the lead for good at 54-52 with 3:01 remaining ... Wingate showed a balanced attack against Newberry, with four players reaching double-digits in points. Barrett finished with 16 points, while senior forward Emily Paffrath registered a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Barrett averaged 15.5 points per game and 7.0 rebounds per game in Wingate's two SAC road wins last week ... Two members of the Bulldog women's basketball are currently listed in the top ten of the NCAA Division II statistics. Atkinson is seventh in the NCAA Division II with 7.0 assists per game. Paffrath is ninth with 2.9 blocked shots per game. The 6-2 Mitchell High School graduate broke the South Atlantic Conference all-time blocked shots record earlier this season with a six-block performance against Virginia State. Paffrath currently has 292 blocks in her career.