Weekly SAC Women’s Basketball Notes - Jan. 22, 2007
Women's basketball game recaps and notes for week ending January 21, 2007
CARSON-NEWMAN - Tykira McDaniel scored 11 points to lead the No. 21 Carson-Newman Lady Eagles to a second half rally and, ultimately, a 62-56 victory over rival Tusculum at Holt Fieldhouse ... The Lady Eagles trailed 26-22 at halftime after shooting just 25 percent from the floor and connecting on one of eight three-pointers. In the second half, C-N began to cut into the Pioneer lead. Shari Buford converted a three-point play to pull C-N to within three points at 31-28 and a McDaniel layup moved the Lady Eagles within striking distance at 31-30 ... TC went on a 9-0 run midway through the half to increase their lead to 39-30, but the Lady Eagles persevered. Cassie Burks nailed a trey and Tashea LedBetter made two fast break layups to pull within two points at 43-41 with nine minutes to go. Burks made a pair of free throws and Shari Buford's jumper kept the Lady Eagles close and C-N finally pulled even at 50-50 after LedBetter completed a three-point play and Stefanie Holbrook swished two free throws ... Ashley Tipton's jumper tied the game again at 52-52 and consecutive layups by McDaniel and Buford gave C-N the lead for good at 56-52. Buford, Ashley Kyle, and McDaniel were a combined 6-for-6 at the free throw line in the final minute to earn their 14th victory of the season ... Ashley Tipton scored 21 points as the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles held off Presbyterian, 70-57 to remain atop the South Atlantic Conference standings. The Lady Eagles (15-2, 5-1 SAC) claimed victory despite shooting just 38 percent from the field. C-N held a 29-24 advantage at halftime, but Tipton hit consecutive treys to bolster C-N's lead to eight points at 35-27 early in the second half ... Tykira McDaniel and Tipton made consecutive shots midway through the second half to give the Lady Eagles their largest lead of the game at 47-31 ... PC would cut the lead to five points late in the game, but C-N went on an 8-3 run to increase their lead to 10 en route to the 13-point victory ... Tashea LedBetter scored 10 points and Shari Buford led the Lady Eagles with six rebounds. Angela Volentine collected three steals to lead C-N in that category.
CATAWBA - The Catawba women split its two games last week ... The ladies defeated Mars Hill 77-69 on Wednesday, but fell 50-45 at Lincoln Memorial on Saturday ... After a slow start, Catawba canned 71 percent of its shots in the second half, scoring 53 points en route to the win ... The ladies had shot just 30 percent in the opening half and trailed 26-24 ... After falling behind 32-27 early in the final half, Catawba used a 17-3 run to seize control of the contest ... The Lions did pull within 52-50 with just eight minutes to play, but three-pointers by Ingrid Easter and Cameron Clark pushed the lead back to eight with five minutes remaining ... Corin Muldrow equaled her career-high in the win as she posted a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds ... Easter also reached double figures with 13 points ... Catawba made just five field goals in the opening half at LMU (shooting 18.5 percent) and trailed 32-17 at the break ... LMU built its lead to as many as 19 points and led 45-27 with 10 minutes left before Catawba erased the deficit with 18 straight points to tie the contest on an Easter three-pointer with 1:55 remaining ... The ladies had two turnovers down the stretch and LMU made five of six from the line to win the game ... Easter was the lone Catawba player in double figures with 13 points ... LMU held a 47-30 edge on the board to help offset 25 turnovers ... Ne'Keithia Howard is the lone Catawba player averaging double figures at 10.1 a game ... Muldrow is adding 8.4 points and 5.6 rebounds a contest ... The 50 points allowed to LMU marked the fifth time in seven games the Lady Indians had held an opponent under 60 points ... The ladies will face the league's top three teams in their next three games as Catawba will travel to Newberry on Wednesday and hosts Carson-Newman on Saturday ... The next home game will be a week from Saturday, hosting Wingate.
LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College women's basketball team (10-7, 3-3) pushed its winning streak to three games after defeating Lincoln Memorial on the road Wednesday, 61-53, in overtime and Chowan, 63-45, at home Saturday … In the victory at the Turner Arena in Harrogate, Tenn., the Bears out-scored the Lady Railsplitters, 10-2, in the extra frame in the first-ever meeting between the two squads … Lenoir-Rhyne freshman guard Lauren Casey (Raleigh, N.C.) led the Bears with 17 points, a season-high, while freshman guard Amber Holt (Charlotte, N.C.) added a double-double (13 points and 11 rebounds) in the victory … The Bears defeated the Hawks of Chowan University for the second time this year behind freshman guard Jami Safrit's (Hickory, N.C.) game-high 13 points … The Hawks missed their first nine shots, turned the ball over 25 times and were held scoreless for the first 6:18 of the contest … Lenoir-Rhyne hosts the two first-place teams in the South Atlantic Conference at home this week: Carson-Newman on Wednesday at 6 p.m., and Wingate on Saturday at 6 p.m. … The Eagles lead the series with the Bears, 28-15, while the Lady Bulldogs hold and all-time advantage of 45-8 ... Lenoir-Rhyne handed its only lose in the South Atlantic Conference last year, a 74-67 overtime win at Shuford Gymnasium on January 18, 2006 … L-R has won three straight games on two different occasions this year.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - It took overtime to do it, but the Lady Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne College knocked off the Lady Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial Wednesday night in South Atlantic Conference basketball action by the final score of 61-53 ... Although neither team was fighting for one of the top spots in the conference race, the game was nonetheless important in terms with more then half of the conference schedule still to be played. Lenoir-Rhyne led most of the first half and took a 28-24 lead into the intermission. By the time the second half was nearly over, the lead had been tied or changed hands numerous time as look as though it would go down to the wire ... With 29 seconds remaining in regulation, Lincoln Memorial's Madeline Richards hit a jumper to tie the game at 51 all. The basket proved to be the last by either team in regulation and the game eventually went into overtime ... When overtime got underway, it was soon clear that all of the damage would be done by Lenoir-Rhyne. The Lady Bears scored the first four points of overtime before LMU's Heather Benton finally got the Lady Railsplitters first bucket of the extra period with only 2:56 remaining. The basket also turned out to be LMU's last, as LRC 6-0 run over the final 2:56 to come away with the 61-53 win ... The Lady Railsplitters entered Saturday night's home game with Catawba College with only one win in the South Atlantic Conference at 1-5, while the Lady Indians shared the league lead with Carson-Newman at 4-1. From the opening tip of the game, Lincoln Memorial took control and opened up a double digit lead, extending the margin to fifteen points by the end of the first half ... The Lady Railsplitters Kelsi Salas sent her team to the locker room on a high note when she hit her first three pointer of the year on a shot nearly six feet behind mid court ... Sporting a 32-17 lead at the beginning of the second half, many Lady Railsplitter fans thought the game was over however, the Lady Indians refused to throw in the towel ... Although Catawba trailed by as many as 19 points they managed to put together a run while LMU simultaneously went ice cold for the last ten minutes of the game. During this stretch, Catawba tied the game for the first time since the opening tip at the 1:55 mark ... LMU refused to break in the final two minutes of play and managed to pull ahead to a five point lead on free throws by senior Betsy Bowser and freshman Andi Winney for the 50-45 win over Catawba ... Winney scored the Lady Railsplitters' last field goal of the game at the 10:08 mark. Winney was the only Lady Railsplitter to score double figures and led all scorers and all rebounders with a career-high 19 points 14 boards ... Catawba's Ingrid Easter came in off the bench to lead the Lady Indians with 13 ... The loss drops the Lady Indians into a tie with Newberry College for third place in the South Atlantic Conference at 4-2, while the Lady Railsplitters improve their 2-5 heading into Wednesday night's league road game with Mars Hill College in Mars Hill, North Carolina. Tip-off with the Lady Lions is set for 6:00 p.m.
MARS HILL - Mars Hill lost a pair of league games last week. The Lions are now 8-8 overall and 2-4 in the SAC ... In the first game of the week, Corin Muldrow (Jacksonville, NC) came off the bench to record her second double-double on the year to lead Catawba College's women's basketball team over Mars Hill College, 77-69, Wednesday night in Goodman Gym. Muldrow tied her career high 20 points and pulled down 10 boards to pace the Indians. Cristi Bartlett (Camden, NC) followed with 13 points for Catawba to round out the double-digit scorers for the Indians ... Catawba shot 70.8 percent (17-24) from the floor in the second half to out score MHC by 10 (53-43) in the second frame. The Lions led 26-24 at the break ... Catawba received 56 points from their bench in the game. Catawba edged the Lions in rebounds, 38-to-34 ... Abby DeBusk (New Tazewell, TN) and Danielle Francis (Bamberg, SC) led MHC scoring 18 and 15 points in the contest, respectively. Francis was 7-for-10 from the floor while DeBusk added seven rebounds and three assists ... MHC out scored the Indians, 10-to-3 to start the game and lead by seven with 14:41 left in the first half after Francis hit a jumper. Catawba then went on a 12-to-4 run to lead by a single point (15-14) with 7:31 left in the first period after Muldrow hit a shot in the lane. The Lions out scored Catawa 12-to-9 to close out the first stanza and go into the locker room with a two-point (26-24) advantage ... MHC started the second stanza on a 6-to-3 run to extend their lead to five points (32-27) with 17:07 left in the contest after Shannon Lee (Four Oaks, NC) scored in the paint. Catawba answered by reeling off six unanswered points to take a 33-32 lead after Bartlett hit a layup with 15:18 left in regulation ... The Indians would not trail the Lions again. Catawba then out scored MHC 11-to-3 over the next two minutes to lead by nine points (44-35) when Muldrow scored inside ... MHC cut the deficit to just two points (52-50) after going on a 15-to-8 run capped off by a pair of foul shots from DeBusk with 7:54 on the clock ... That was as close as the Lions could get. Catawba out scored MHC 10-to-4 during the next three minutes to lead by eight points (62-54) and seal the win ... In the second contest of the week, the number 25 Wingate University women's basketball team defeated Mars Hill College 73-63 in a South Atlantic Conference game in Cuddy Arena on Saturday ... Wingate senior guard Tanetra Barrett (Marshville, N.C.) led all scorers with 24 points. Barrett also had a game-high nine rebounds along with a team-high five assists. Bulldog senior forward Kerri Metzker (Charlotte, N.C.) had 10 points and eight rebounds. Wingate senior Emily Paffrath (Bakersville, N.C.) contributed 11 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots ... Mars Hill junior guard Allison Schafer (Advance, N.C.) scored 20 points and grabbed five rebounds for the visitors. Lion senior guard Abby DeBusk (New Tazewell, Tenn.) tallied 18 points, five assists and five rebounds. Mars Hill sophomore forward Jessica Blanford (Concord, N.C.) had a team high seven rebounds ... Wingate held a 37-28 advantage over Mars Hill at the break. Wingate senior forward Lakin Byer (Bassett, Va.) scored six of the Bulldogs first 12 points on three-of-three shooting from the floor in the first half. Paffrath led the first half scoring for Wingate with nine first half points. Barrett and Metzker each had six rebounds in the opening frame ... DeBusk led the Mars Hill offense with six first half points and three assists. Junior center Lindsay Roberts (Murphy, N.C.) had a team-high four first half rebounds for the Lions in the first 20 minutes ... Mars Hill came out with a 4-0 run to begin the second half on back-to-back jumper by Schafer at 19:40 and 19:06 to narrow the deficit to five points at 37-32. Wingate responded with a 5-0 run of its own, capped by a Barrett layup at the 17:59 mark to give the Bulldogs a double-digit lead at 42-32 ... Wingate never looked back, led by Barrett and her 17 second half points. Barrett was 12-of-15 from the charity stripe for the game, including nine-of-11 in the second half ... MHC will host a pair of league games this week. The Lions will host Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday night before meeting Tusculum College on Saturday afternoon.
NEWBERRY - Newberry College played just one game this past week, winning for a third straight time in South Atlantic Conference action on Saturday, January 20 in Greeneville, Tenn. … The Lady Indians battled a young, tough Tusculum team for 40 long minutes … Newberry built a five point advantage at the 10:14 mark of the second half when junior forward Tonique Frasier converted a lay-up on a nice pass from Monica Alexander to go up 40-35 … Over the next 7:13, Newberry would only make one field goal, but fended off the Pioneer attack at the free throw line … The Lady Indians drew six fouls during that span and converted 5-of-8 free throws to stay on top of Tusculum … Monica Alexander's only field goal of the game at the 3:01 mark spurred a Newberry 13-4 run to end the game … Frasier ended the game with her seventh double-double of the season, scoring 13 points and grabbing a season high 16 rebounds … Junior guard Ashlee Wright notched a game and season-high 16 points, going 8-for-10 at the free throw line … Monica Alexander scored all eight of her points in the second half and dished out seven assists … Newberry improved to 4-2 in the South Atlantic Conference and 15-2 overall … The Lady Indians next play on Wednesday, January 24 at Eleazer Arena versus Catawba College with tip-off slated for 6 p.m.
PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian dropped two games last week to nationally ranked opponents … The Lady Blue Hose commenced the week by succumbing to No. 25 Wingate before losing to No. 21 Carson-Newman on Saturday, Jan. 20 … PC has now fallen in seven straight games in league play and eight games overall … Morgan Johnson had one of her best weeks of the season last week … The Marietta, Ga. native averaged a double-double of 14.5 points-per-game and 13.5 rebounds-per-game … The sophomore had a career-high 19 rebounds in the loss to C-N, while also adding 17 points … The Lady Blue Hose next welcome rival Newberry to the Templeton Center at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 27.
TUSCULUM - The Tusculum women's basketball team lost two games last week as the Pioneers fall to 11-6 overall and 3-3 in South Atlantic Conference play… Tusculum's upset bid at No. 21 Carson-Newman fell short, 62-56… Tusculum freshman Lindsay Barta led all scorers with a season-best 17 points, while Shantae Shank finished with 11 markers… Tusculum jumped out to a 26-22 halftime lead after limiting the Lady Eagles to just 25 percent from the floor, connecting on just one of eight 3-pointers in the opening frame… TC rookie Diana Neves had the hot hand in the first half with nine points and was a perfect 4-for-4 from the free throw line… In the Newberry game, Tusculum suffered its first home loss of the season as the Pioneers had its nine-game home winning streak halted in a 61-48 loss to the Lady Indians… The nine-game run was the longest home winning streak in the history of Pioneer Arena… The Pioneers were out-rebounded by a 49-32 margin, including a 33-12 difference in the second half alone… Newberry also took advantage of its 31 trips to the charity stripe, recording 20 free throws, including 15-of-24 in the second half… The Pioneers were led in scoring by Neves, who tallied 14 points off the bench, while rookie Carlie Lakey and Shank finished with 13 and 12 points, respectively… Lakey led Tusculum on the boards with nine rebounds, while senior Brooke Underwood finished with seven boards and six assists in the loss… Both teams shot an identical 20-for-55 from the field (36.4 percent) while Newberry finished 64.5 percent at the free throw line, while TC shot 39 percent from the charity stripe… Tusculum is 10-1 this season when connecting on at least seven 3-pointers… Underwood played in her 100th career game at Tusculum against Carson-Newman… Tusculum will host nationally-ranked Wingate on Wednesday before traveling to Mars Hill on Saturday.
WINGATE - The number 25 Wingate University women's basketball team defeated Mars Hill College 73-63 in a South Atlantic Conference game in Cuddy Arena on the Wingate campus on Saturday. Wingate improves to 13-4 overall and 5-1 in the SAC with the victory. Bulldog head coach Johnny Jacumin was wired for sound by WBTV sports during the game. The local Charlotte television station is doing a story on Jacumin and the Bulldogs that should air in the days ahead ... Against Mars Hill, Wingate senior guard Tanetra Barrett led all scorers with 24 points. Barrett also had a game-high nine rebounds along with a team-high five assists. The 2006 All-American nailed 12-of-15 free throws versus the Lions. Bulldog senior forward Kerri Metzker had 10 points and eight rebounds. Wingate senior Emily Paffrath contributed 11 points, five rebounds and two blocked shots against Mars Hill ... Wingate held a 37-28 advantage over Mars Hill at the break. Wingate senior forward Lakin Byer scored six of the Bulldogs first 12 points on three-of-three shooting from the floor in the first half. Paffrath topped the scoring charts for Wingate with nine first half points. Barrett and Metzker each had six rebounds in the opening frame ... Mars Hill came out with a 4-0 run to begin the second half on back-to-back jumper by Allison Schafer at 19:40 and 19:06 to narrow the deficit to five points at 37-32. Wingate responded with a 5-0 run of its own, capped by a Barrett lay-up at the 17:59 mark to give the Bulldogs a double-digit lead at 42-32. Wingate never looked back, led by Barrett and her 17 second half points. Barrett was 12-of-15 from the charity stripe for the game, including nine-of-11 in the second half ... Barrett averaged 19.0 points per game as the No. 25 Bulldogs won two league games last week. In an 82-57 home win over Presbtyerian Wednesday, Barrett netted 14 points. The Forest Hills High School product has 1734 career points and 517 career rebounds entering this week's play ... For the week, Barrett averaged 19.0 points per game, 7.0 rebounds per game, 5.5 assists per game and 3.5 steals per game. On the season, Barrett leads the Bulldogs (and the SAC) with 17.8 points per game. In addition, she averages 6.2 rebounds per game and 3.4 assists per game. Barrett steps up her play in league contests, topping the Bulldog charts with 18.3 points per game in SAC action ... Wingate junior guard Kate Edwards led all scorers with 18 points in the PC game. Barrett had 14 points, six assists, five rebounds and a game-high six steals. Metzker had 12 points and seven rebounds. Freshman post player Stacie Rhodes had a team-high eight rebounds ... To begin the game, Edwards knocked down four consecutive three-pointers to give the Bulldogs a 12-2 lead over the Blue Hose with 16:45 remaining in the first stanza. Edwards led WU with 15 first-half points on five-of-six shooting from three-point land ... Paffrath is seventh in the NCAA Division II in blocked shots per game (2.6 blocks per game). Paffrath broke the South Atlantic Conference all-time blocked shots record earlier this season. She has 304 career blocks entering this week's play. Paffrath is closing in on 1000 points for her Bulldog career. She has 958 markers entering the week ... Bulldog point guard Anna Atkinson is eighth in the NCAA Division II in assists per game (6.4 assists per game). As a team, the Bulldogs rank 16th in blocked shots per game (4.6 blocks per game) ... Wingate's 13 wins this season gives head coach Johnny Jacumin 581 victories for his illustrious Bulldog career. Coach Jacumin is fourth on the NCAA Division II winningest active coaches victory list. His .729 winning percentage (entering the season) ranks 15th among active NCAA Division II coaches ... Since the SAC became an all-sports league in 1989, Jacumin's clubs have won or shared the regular season title in 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005 and 2006. Wingate won the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament in 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996 and 1997.