Weekly SAC Women’s Basketball Notes - Jan. 29, 2007
Women's basketball game recaps and notes for week ending January 28, 2007
CARSON-NEWMAN - Stefanie Holbrook scored 28 points as the Lady Eagles held off a late L-R rally to defeat the Lady Bears, 81-79. Holbrook connected on six-of-eight three-pointers. Holbrook's six treys is one short of the C-N single game record set by Kandi Duncan against L-R on February 10, 1999 ... Tykira McDaniel and Shari Buford added 16 and 12 points, respectively, to key the Lady Eagle victory ... A Dean Walsh-coached team is now 96-0 when they score 80 or more points in a game. The Lady Eagles have had six games (Alabama-Huntsville, Brevard, Maryville, Converse, Mars Hill, and Lenoir Rhyne) where they've scored 80 or more points in a game so far this season ... Walsh is now four wins away from earning his 100th career victory as Carson-Newman head coach ... Against Catawba, Ashley Tipton and Holbrook led the Lady Eagles with 12 points apiece. Holbrook scored her dozen on four three-pointers ... Shari Buford pulled down a game-high 11 rebounds ... The Lady Eagles continue to lead all of NCAA Division II in rebounding margin. C-N is out-rebounding opponents by an average of 13.4 boards per game.
CATAWBA - The Catawba women picked up a split of its two league games last week ... The ladies fell at Newberry on Wednesday 63-57 then rebounded to knock off 20th-ranked Carson-Newman 61-57 on Saturday at Goodman Gym ... Catawba had battled back from a 13-point second-half deficit at Newberry to take a 57-56 lead on the third three-pointer in a 3:22 span by Sicilia LoSauro ... It would be the final points for Catawba and Newberry iced the game on a pair of free throws with 16 seconds remaining after three Tribe turnovers in the final two minutes ... Ingrid Easter had a dozen points to pace Catawba. She added six rebounds and four steals ... Ne'Keithia Howaard and LoSauro each added 11 points ... Catawba equaled a season-high with 29 turnovers, while Newberry had just 14 ... After hitting just over 51 percent against Newberry, the ladies hit only 39 percent vs. Carson-Newman, but had only 15 miscues, which equaled C-N ... A 9-0 spurt gave Catawba a 40-31 lead with 12:03 left and Catawba led by at least four the rest of the way ... Brittany Higgins made two key hoops with around two minutes to go to keep the Tribe up by six and the ladies made five-of-seven at the line in the final 38 seconds to hold on ... Howard canned six-of-nine shots and scored 15 points with eight rebounds ... Hillary Hampton made a trio of three-pointers and also tallied 15 points ... Tamekia Foster grabbed 10 rebounds and moved into 10th place on the all-time Catawba chart with 626 in her career ... Easter added another solid effort with nine points, six rebounds and three steals ... The senior has increased her scoring average three points over the past six games as she has averaged 12.5 points a contest ... Howard's 10.4 scoring average leads the Lady Indians and is adding 4.9 rebounds. She is hitting on nearly 60 percent of her field goal attempts and 76 percent from the line ... The ladies play only one contest this week as they play host to Wingate on Saturday afternoon.
LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne women's basketball team (11-8, 4-4) split both its two games this week at home … L-R fell to No. 20 Carson-Newman, 81-79, at home Wednesday before downing No. 24 Wingate by a 94-67 … Stefanie Holbrook came off the bench to score 28 points while reserve Tykira McDaniel tallied 14 of her 16 points after break as the Eagles scored 52 of their 81 points in the second half in its fourth straight win over the Bears … Sophomore center Denise Moore (Newport News, Va.) led L-R with 16 points and nine rebounds … Lenoir-Rhyne bounced back in a surprising, 27-point rout of Wingate Saturday evening at home … Freshman guard Amber Holt (Charlotte, N.C.) scored a career-high 30 points, including the first 13 point after break, as the Bears broke open a five-point, halftime lead (41-36) … Moore added 22 points as L-R shot 64 percent (33-of-52) from the field … Holt was also 12-of-14 (85.7 percent) for the game and added four assists as well as the Bears led by as many as 30 late in the contest … Lenoir-Rhyne also ready won more league and overall games this year than in 2005-06 ... L-R wraps up its four-game homestand when it hosts Tusculum at 6 p.m., on Wednesday … The Bears, who lead the all-time series with the Pioneers by a 10-7 count, looks to avenge a 58-50 loss to the Pioneers this season … Lenoir-Rhyne then travels to Clinton, S.C., to take on Presbyterian Saturday at 2 p.m. … L-R won earlier this year against PC (58-52) but Blue Hose hold a 29-8 advantage in the career series.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - The Lions' women's basketball team snapped a four-game skid to run past the visiting Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial University Wednesday night in Stanford Arena. MHC improved to 9-8 overall and 3-4 in the SAC. LMU fell to an even 9-9 on the season and 2-6 in the league ... LMU took an 8-7 lead with 15:54 left in the first half after Madeline Richards hit a layup. The Lady Railsplitters then extended their advantage to as many as seven points (23-16) with 8:20 remaining in the first period after Heather Benton hit a shot in the lane ... The Lions then went on a 12-to-3 run over the next three minutes to take a 28-26 lead when DeBusk scored inside. The Lions would never trail again. They took an eight-point lead (37-29) into the locker room at halftime ... The second half belonged to the Lions. MHC started the second frame out scoring LMU 10-to-2 to lead by 16 (47-31) with 16:08 on the clock after Shannon Lee hit a layup ... As close as LMU would get down the stretch was to cut the deficit to 11 points (55-44) with 8:12 left in regulation after Andi Winney scored in the paint. Laura Snider answered that run with a 3-pointer on the Lions' next possession and the Lions never looked back ... MHC's biggest lead of 23 points (72-49) came at the 2:54 mark after Jessica Blanford connected on a pair of free throws ... MHC scored 30 points in the paint, 23 off LMU miscues and 10 off the break. Following DeBusk for MHC was Blanford and Allison Schafer who scored 12 points apiece ... MHC won the rebound battle, 40-to-24. The Lions converted on 52.8 percent (28-53) of their field goals in the win ... Richards and Winney led LMU scoring 13 and 11 points in the game, respectively. Winney added six rebounds in the contest ... With only eight games remaining is his collegiate coaching career, on Saturday evening Roger Vannoy and his Lady Railsplitters captured one the Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball program's biggest wins when they defeated NAIA third-ranked Lee University 70-63 to improve to 10-9 on the year, while dropping the Lady Flames record to 18-3 overall ... While the victory wasn't a conference game, the win was still a momentum boost on the heels of Vannoy's announcement this week that he would be stepping down at the end of this season as head women's basketball coach. His reasoning, simply put was, "a time for a change" as he put it in a recent release by the University ... The Lady Railsplitters trailed until the 4:51 mark of the first half when they tied the game at 24-24 ... LMU then took the lead at 4:31 on a three pointer by senior guard Madeline Richards and never looked back, leading on a number of occasions by as many as 7 points ... Richards led all scorers with 20 points, while junior Heather Benton contributing another 16 ... The only other Lady Railsplitter in double figures was point-guard Betsy Bowser who added 10 points and handed out 5 assists. Senior Latoya Johnson came in off the bench to lead LMU on the boards with 11 rebounds ... At 10-9 overall, the Lady Railsplitters return to conference play this Wednesday when they travel to Wingate, North Carolina to take on the Lady Bulldogs of Wingate University. Tip-off is slatted for 6:00 p.m. and the broadcast can be heard on the LMU Sports Network, WLMU 91.3 FM, 105.9 WTMT FM, on the World Wide Web at www.lmunet.edu/athletics.
MARS HILL - Mars Hill went 2-0 last week to take their season record to 10-8 overall and an even 4-4 in conference play ... In the first game of the week, the Lions' snapped a four-game skid to run past the visiting Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial University Wednesday night in Stanford Arena. Abby DeBusk (New Tazewell, TN) scored 19 points, pulled down seven rebounds and dished out six assists to lead MHC to victory ... LMU took an 8-7 lead with 15:54 left in the first half after Madeline Richards (Floyds Knob, IN) hit a layup. The Railsplitters then extended their advantage to as many as seven points (23-16) with 8:20 remaining in the first period after Heather Benton (Wooten, KY) hit a shot in the lane ... The Lions then went on a 12-to-3 run over the next three minutes to take a 28-26 lead when DeBusk scored inside. The Lions would never trail again ... They took an eight-point lead (37-29) into the locker room at halftime ... The second half belonged to the Lions. MHC started the second frame out scoring LMU 10-to-2 to lead by 16 (47-31) with 16:08 on the clock after Shannon Lee (Four Oaks, NC) hit a layup ... As close as LMU would get down the stretch was to cut the deficit to 11 points (55-44) with 8:12 left in regulation after Andi Winney (Yorktown, IN) scored in the paint. Laura Snider (Old Fort, NC) answered that run with a 3-pointer on the Lions' next possession and the Lions never looked back ... MHC's biggest lead of 23 points (72-49) came at the 2:54 mark after Jessica Blanford (Concord, NC) connected on a pair of free throws ... MHC scored 30 points in the paint, 23 off LMU miscues and 10 off the break. Following DeBusk for MHC was Blanford and Allison Schafer (Advance, NC) who scored 12 points apiece ... MHC won the rebound battle, 40-to-24. The Lions converted on 52.8 percent (28-53) of their field goals in the win ... In the second game of the week, Abby Debusk (New Tazewell, TN) scored 27 points by hitting 10-of-14 shots from the field to lead Mars Hill past Tusculum College 90-78 Saturday afternoon in Stanford Arena ... The first half was closely played. Tusculum took a seven point (42-35) advantage with 2:18 left in the first frame after Chassity Martin (Salem, VA) hit a layup. MHC stormed back to close the half on a 7-0 run to knot the halftime score at 42-all ... DeBusk had 11 in the first half ... MHC shot 58.1 percent (18-31) from the floor in the opening period. Tusculum took the lead at the 15:19 mark after Diana Reves (Gladstone, Queensland, Australia) hit a shot from behind the arc. The Pioneers would extend their advantage to six points with 13:27 left in the contest after Shantae Shank (Charlotte, NC) hit a 3-pointer ... MHC battled back scoring 12 unanswered points to lead by six points (66-60) with 11:16 left in regulation after DeBusk nailed a 3-pointer. The Lions would never trail again ... MHC led by as many as 14 points (86-72) when DeBusk hit a layup with 2:56 on the clock ... MHC scored 40 points in the paint while the Pioneers scored 17 second chance points. MHC won the rebound battle, 42-to-28. The Lions shot 58.1 percent (36-62) from the floor while TC hit 41.8 percent (28-67) from the field. The Pioneers took 36 shots from behind the arc in the contest ... DeBusk added eight rebounds and three assists to go along with her game high 27 points. Allison Schafer (Advance, NC) scored 15, Jessica Blanford (Concord, NC) scored 14 and Ariel Okunowo (Decatur, NC) added 12 points to round out the double-digit scorers for the Lions. Blanford tallied a game high nine rebounds in the game ... Shank led TC with 19 points and five rebounds followed by Ashli Oliver (Kokomo, IN) with 18 points. Martin added 16 points in the contest ... This week, MHC will play at Brevard College on Monday night at 6 p.m. then host Presbyterian on Wednesday night (6 p.m.) before playing at Newberry on Saturday afternoon (2 p.m.).
NEWBERRY - The Newberry College Lady Indian basketball team won both games played during the past week improving to 17-2 overall and catapulting the scarlet and gray into a three way tie with Wingate and Carson-Newman for first place in the South Atlantic Conference … Newberry hosted Catawba College on Wednesday, January 24 at Eleazer Arena … The Lady Indians were led by Ashlee Wright's season-high 17 points including a key jumper at the 2:23 mark of the second half to put Newberry on top for good … Wright, a junior from Myrtle Beach, connected on 7-of-11 shots from the floor en route to a 63-57 victory … Wright also registered four steals … Tonique Frasier also chipped in 17 points and three steals in 34 minutes of play … On Saturday, January 27, Newberry traveled to arch-rival Presbyterian … Monica Alexander provided the offensive firepower, churning out 22 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field … Alexander, a junior from Norcross, Ga., also dished out five assists in 28 minutes of play … Juniors Tonique Frasier and Ashley Marine supplemented Alexander's 22 with 15 and 14 points respectively … 12 of Marine's 14 came on three point baskets … With two wins over the week, Newberry has constructed a five game winning streak, all games coming in conference play … The Lady Indians travel to Jefferson City, Tenn. on Wednesday to take on Carson-Newman College with tip-off scheduled for 6 p.m.
PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian fell in its only game last week to rival Newberry … The Lady Blue Hose have now lost nine straight games … The Lady Blue Hose kept it close against the Lady Indians using a career-high 19 points from Jessica Parris to stay within reach … Parris was 8-for-12 from the field in the contest … Morgan Johnson had 12 points and 12 rebounds to acquire her ninth double-double of the season … The Lady Blue Hose travel to Mars Hill on Wednesday before ending the week at home against Lenoir-Rhyne at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3.
TUSCULUM - TThe Tusculum women's basketball team (11-8, 3-5 SAC) enters the second half of the South Atlantic Conference season riding a five-game losing streak, including two losses last week to No. 24 Wingate (75-58) and Mars Hill (90-78) ... In the Mars Hill game, Tusculum canned a season-best 14 three-pointers, tied for the second most in school history and one shy of a school and SAC record ... TC senior Brooke Underwood recorded her 500th career assist in the Mars Hill game. Underwood becomes the second player in school history and the fifth in SAC history to dish out 500 assists in her career ... During the Coach Missy Tiber era at Tusculum (2005-present), the Pioneers are 22-4 when scoring at least 70 points. TC is 10-3 when recording at least seven 3-pointers in a game this season ... Tusculum will face Lenoir-Rhyne and Lincoln Memorial this week. The Pioneers recorded victories earlier this season against both opponents.
WINGATE - The No. 24 Bulldogs split two South Atlantic Conference road contests last week. On Wednesday night, Wingate senior forward Kerri Metzker matched her career-high with 23 points as the Bulldogs defeated Tusculum College 75-58 in Pioneer Arena on the Tusculum campus. A Vance High School product, Metzker also contributed seven rebounds and three assists ... Wingate senior guard Tanetra Barrett had 17 points, six rebounds, six assists, three steals and two blocked shots. The 2006 All-American hit eight-of-13 field goals in her 40-minute performance. Bulldog senior center Emily Paffrath had 16 points. Paffrath shared the team rebounding lead with Metzker, pulling down seven boards ... The Lenoir-Rhyne Bears defeated the Wingate Bulldogs 94-67 Saturday night in Shuford Gymnasium on the Lenoir-Rhyne campus. L-R shot 63.5 percent (33-of-52) from the floor Saturday. Barrett led the Bulldogs with 25 points. After the first round of SAC play, the Bulldogs (14-5, 6-2 SAC) are in a three-way tie for first place in the league standings with Carson-Newman and Newberry ... On Saturday, Wingate trailed 41-36 at halftime, despite the fact Lenoir-Rhyne shot 65.2 percent (15-of-23) in the opening frame. The Bears never trailed in the contest. A three-pointer by Bulldog junior guard Kate Edwards tied the score at 6-6 with 17:51 to play in the first half. Lenoir-Rhyne scored the next 10 points to take a 16-6 lead ... Wingate cut the margin to 28-26 on a lay-up by sophomore point guard Anna Atkinson with 7:32 remaining in the first half. The Bulldogs would get no closer the rest of the way. Holt led the Bears with 17 first-half points. Barrett had 12 markers in the opening frame ... Barrett was the only Bulldog to reach double figures. Atkinson contributed nine points, while senior guard Petra Nagy chipped in seven points. Wingate freshman guard Sarah Rosser had six points on two-for-two shooting from behind the three-point line ... Wingate returns home Wednesday, hosting SAC newcomer Lincoln Memorial (Tenn.) University for a 6 p.m. contest. The Bulldogs visit Catawba Saturday for a 2 p.m. afternoon matinee ... The Wingate University Sports Network will partner with Red Zone Media for 100 Internet broadcasts during the 2006-07 academic year. Bulldog fans can listen to this week's games on Red Zone Media ... The Wingate University basketball teams are ranked in this week's NCAA Division II South Atlantic Regional polls. In the most recent listing, the Wingate women chart in the number two position (behind Clayton State University). Ten teams are ranked in the poll ... Atkinson is 10th in the NCAA Division II in assists per game. Atkinson is averaging 5.9 assists per contest (entering the week). Paffrath is 11th with 2.46 blocked shots per game. The SAC career leader in blocks, the Mitchell High grad has 305 blocks career rejections ... Edwards is 22nd in the nation in three-point field goal percentage, hitting 40.5 percent of her triples. Edwards had a six-for-10 three-point field goal performance against Presbyterian on Wednesday, Jan. 17. Edwards came out firing in the contest, scoring the first 12 Wingate points on four consecutive three-pointers ... Wingate's 14 wins this season gives head coach Johnny Jacumin 582 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.