Weekly SAC Women’s Basketball Notes - February 26, 2007
Women's basketball game recaps and notes for week ending February 25, 2007
CARSON-NEWMAN - Freshman guard Ashley Kyle scored 16 points in her first start in four games since sustaining an ankle injury to lead the Lady Eagles to a 74-65 victory over Catawba at Holt Fieldhouse ... Catawba would hold an early lead, taking its largest lead at 21-13 on a three-pointer by Andrell Baxter at the 9:32 mark of the opening half. Stefanie Holbrook quickly answered with a three-pointer for Carson-Newman and the Lady Eagles would take their first lead at 29-28 on a jumper by Kyle with 3:27 before the break ... The teams were deadlocked at 36-36 at the half. Ashley Tipton hit a jumper 15 seconds into the second half for Carson-Newman for a 38-36 lead and the Lady Eagles never trailed again ... Carson-Newman held a 58-49 lead with 10 minutes to play and pushed the lead to as many as 12 in the final minutes ... Kyle led Carson-Newman with 16 points, while Casha Foster tossed in 12. Lindsey Eggleston came off the bench to score 10 points and grab nine rebounds. Foster led the Lady Eagles with five assists while sharing the rebounding lead with Shari Buford at five apiece ... Against Wingate, C-N (19-8, 9-7 SAC) shot just 37 percent in the first half and 30 percent from the free throw line as the Bulldogs (22-5, 14-2) closed the half on a 6-0 run for a 42-38 lead at halftime. The Eagles led early at 11-3, but Wingate outscored C-N 15-4 in a six-minute span to tie the game and take the lead ... In the second half, Tykira McDaniel hit a three-pointer and Shari Buford's layup gave the Lady Eagles some life as they cut the Wingate lead to 59-50 with seven minutes left. Wingate's Tanetra Barrett took charge from that point, hitting two jumpers and making four free throws to give the Bulldogs a lead they would not relinquish ... Ashley Tipton scored 14 points to lead Carson-Newman while McDaniel scored 13. Lindsey Eggleston and Buford grabbed six rebounds each to lead the Lady Eagles while Ashley Kyle served five assists to lead C-N in that category. Metzker scored 16 points for the bulldogs while Lakin Byer added 10 points for the victorious Bulldogs ... The Lady Eagles will host L-R in a quarterfinal round game of the 2007 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference tournament on Wednesday, February 28 at Holt Fieldhouse.
CATAWBA - The Catawba women fell into a tie for second place in the SAC after dropping a pair of games last week ... The ladies lost 74-65 at Carson-Newman on Wednesday and fell to Presbyterian at home 67-60 on Saturday ... After battling to a 36-36 tie with CN at the half, Catawba shot just 32 percent in the final half ... NeKeithia Howard had 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Lady Indians ... Hillary Hampton added points, while Gia Colombo dished out 10 assists ... Against PC, Catawba connected on just 31 percent of its shots and were out-rebounded 54-35 ... The ladies stayed in the game by forcing 31 turnovers while committing just 11 ... Catawba battled back from a 46-39 deficit to tie the game at 46-46 after back-to-back three-pointers by Andrell Baxter with 9:31 left ... The teams would trade the lead 10 times down the stretch, but a pair of free throws by PC with 25 seconds left pushed the visitors lead to 63-60 ... Baxter and Corin Muldrow each scored 13 points for Catawba ... The ladies will host Tusculum on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the SAC Tournament at 6 p.m.
LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne women's basketball team (16-11, 9-7) tied for fourth place in the South Atlantic Conference after splitting its games last week to end the regular season … However, L-R loses the tie-breaker to Carson-Newman and will have to travel to Jefferson City, Tenn., to face the Eagles Wednesday at 7 p.m. …The two teams split their contest this season while Carson-Newman leads the all-time series, 29-16 … However, each squad won on the other's court this year … Lenoir-Rhyne started the week by falling to Wingate, 90-76, Wednesday at Cuddy Arena in Wingate, N.C. … Senior guard Tanetra Barrett scored a career-high 40 points to offset a career-high 27-point night from Bear guard Jami Safrit (Hickory, N.C.) … Safrit scored 24 of those points after halftime … Lenoir-Rhyne, on Senior Night (Maggie Womack), snapped a three-game losing streak with a 74-72 victory over Mars Hill Saturday night at Shuford Gymnasium … Sophomore center Denise Moore (Newport News, Va.) hit a turnaround jump shot with 1.5 seconds remaining to lift Lenoir-Rhyne to the win … Moore finished with a career-high 27 points and nine rebounds … Safrit added 11 points, six assists and five rebounds for the Bears as well.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - The emotions of seniors Latoya Johnson (Miami, FL), Kelsi Salas (Rock Falls, IL), Wisemane Alcema (West Palm Beach, FL), Betsy Bowser (Galveston, IN) and Madeline Richards (Floyds Knobs, IN) combined with those of Roger Vannoy coaching his last regular season home game weren't enough to spark the Lady Railsplitters to victory in their 55-52 loss to Newberry College on Saturday night ... Newberry used athleticism and quickness late in the first half of play to extend their lead to nine, before going into the locker room leading by five 30-25. Lincoln Memorial never led in the first half, but kept the game close with solid free throw shooting, hitting 8-11 shots from the line in the first twenty minutes of play ... Lincoln Memorial came out with a solid plan of attack in the second half, but couldn't get to the free throw line until late in the game and Newberry limited the Lady Splitters' opportunities from the perimeter which created a scoring void. Combine that with the Indian's domination of the boards and the Lady Splitters were never able to get over the hump, falling back as many as 15 points with 7:49 to play ... Senior Madeline Richards was the only LMU player to score double figures. Richards did most of her damage at the free throw line, knocking down 9-11 shots to finish with 13 points in the loss ... Freshman Andi Winney (Yorktown, IN) was the leading rebounder for LMU with eight boards ... The Lady Railsplitters now prepare for the first round of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament which will take place at home in the Tex Turner Arena on Monday night against Presbyterian College. The Lady Blue Hose will enter Monday's match-up with LMU as the league's No. 9 ranked team taking on the Lady Railsplitters which finished No. 8. The winner will travel to Wingate on Wednesday night. Tip-off Monday is set for 7:00 p.m.
MARS HILL - Mars Hill lost two games last week. The Lions are now 14-13 overall and 7-9 in the SAC. MHC will begin SAC Tournament play this week when they play on the road at Newberry College on Wednesday night ... In the first game of the week, the Lions' women's basketball team lost at Tusculum College 93-68 Wednesday night in Pioneer Arena. After leading 35-34 at halftime, Tusculum out scored MHC 58-34 in the second half to pull away with the win ... Ashli Oliver (Kokomo, IN) scored 32 points to lead Tusculum to the win. Diana Neves (Gladstone, Queensland, Australia) tallied 21 points and Chassity Martin (Salem, VA) rounded out the double-figure scorers for Tusculum with 14 points ... Abby DeBusk (New Tazewell, TN) led MHC with 21 points converting 10-of-12 field goals. Lindsay Roberts (Murphy, NC) added 11 points and six rebounds in the contest. Tusculum edged the Lions in rebounds, 38-to-31. MHC scored 44 points in the paint while TC scored 35 points off of Lion miscues ... Roberts gave MHC a 2-0 advantage seven seconds into the contest and the Lions would lead until the last two seconds of the first frame. MHC led by as many as 12 points (21-9) with 12:31 left in the first half after Jessica Blanford (Concord, NC) hit a shot in the paint. TC then went on a 26-to-13 run to end the half and take a 35-34 lead into the locker room at halftime ... The second half belonged to the Pioneers. TC converted on 58.8 percent (20-34) of their field goals in the second stanza and made 14-of-22 (63.6 percent) shots from behind the arc in the final period ... After leading by a single point (45-44) with 14:43 left in regulation, TC went on a 27-to-6 run to take a 22-point lead with nine minutes left in regulation after Oliver hit a 3-pointer ... TC led by as many as 32 points (87-55) with 6:21 remaining after Oliver hit another long-range jumper. The impressive second half shooting performance was too much for the Lions to overcome and TC held on for a 93-68 win ... In the second game of the week, Lenoir-Rhyne College sophomore center Denise Moore (Newport News, Va.) hit a turnaround jump shot with 1.5 seconds left to lift L-R to a 72-70 win over Mars Hill College in a South Atlantic Conference women's basketball game Saturday evening at Shuford Memorial Gymnasium. Moore led all scorers with a career-high 27 points to go along with nine rebounds ... Abby DeBusk (New Tazwell, Tenn.) was Mars Hill's top scorer with 20 points and Allison Schafer (Advance, N.C.) added 18 points but the Lions could not hold an eight-point lead (53-45) midway through the second half. Mars Hill went ahead by eight after falling behind 31-16 to start the contest ... Lenoir-Rhyne reeled off 11 straight points in a four-plus minute span to take a 56-53 advantage on a lay-up from freshman guard Lauren Casey (Raleigh, N.C.) with 7:17 left and the contest went back-and-forth from there until Moore's dramatic shot lifted L-R to the win.
NEWBERRY - The Newberry College Lady Indians finished up the regular season with a 2-0 week and secured the third seed in the Food Lion SAC Tournament … The scarlet and gray finished with a 21-6 overall record, going 10-6 in the SAC … The 21 season wins and 10 SAC wins are the most ever in a season for Lady Indian Basketball … In the final regular season meeting as inter-conference rivals, Newberry College women's basketball shelled the Lady Blue Hose of Presbyterian, 71-44, in front of more than 500 fans at Eleazer Arena on February 21 … The victory pushed Newberry to 20 wins on the season marking the first time a Lady Indian basketball team has won 20 games in a season … With only a five point lead at the half, Newberry exploded offensively to start the second stanza … The scarlet and gray went on a 17-5 run in the opening 8:14 of the second half for a 52-55 lead over Presbyterian … During a stretch of seven possessions from 18:27 to the 14:44 mark, the Lady Indians connected from the field six times … Sophomore Tiffany Smalls scored seven straight points in a span of 40 seconds, including a spectacular baseline drive and scoop for a deuce and a foul at the 15:25 mark … Smalls finished the evening with a career-high 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field. The Charleston native also had an assist and a steal in 21 minutes … After building a sizeable lead early in the second, Newberry continued to shoot well … The Lady Indians shot 55.2 percent from the field in the second half, hitting 16-of-29 field goal attempts … Though Newberry cruised to a 26-point win, Presbyterian kept the issue in doubt in the first half. After the Lady Indians had bolted out 15-2 lead to start the game, the Lady Blue Hose slowly cut began to cut the deficit … Staying within eight or nine points the majority of the first half, Presbyterian cranked out a an 8-0 run from just under the four minute mark until under a minute was left … Guard Bridget Takach put the Lady Blue Hose within a bucket at the 1:37 mark … Up 32-30, Lady Indian junior Ashlee Wright hit 1-of-2 free throws with 44 seconds remaining to regain a three point edge … Then, sophomore center Anita Bulcher claimed an offensive rebound and cashed in on the put-back to secure a five point lead, 35-30, and the game's momentum at the break … Head coach Jason Brink received excellent scoring efforts from his bench. The Newberry bench accounted for 41 points, nearly as many points as Presbyterian scored for the entirety of the game … Along with Smalls' 16 points, Cicely Jenkins also had a career-best in points … The Columbia native hit 5-of-7 shots from the floor and tallied 11 points in 20 minutes … Though Newberry's bench produced sensational numbers, the steadfast Tonique Frasier continued her excellent season with another double-double performance, her tenth of the season … Frasier netted 17 points to lead all scorers, including an impressive 7-for-10 showing at the free throw line … The junior forward from Walterboro also had season-highs in assists with four and blocks with three … The Lady Indians out-rebounded the Lady Blue Hose by 15 and dominated points in the paint, 38-18. Pushing the tempo, the scarlet and gray accounted for 16 fast break points. Presbyterian only had two … As the final home game of the season, Newberry women's basketball honored its only senior Tygress Hope at the conclusion of the game … Hope has appeared in over 50 games for the scarlet and gray, grabbing more than 190 rebounds for the Lady Indians … Hope finished her final regular season game at Eleazer Arena with six points, six rebounds, two assists, and a steal in 18 minutes … Newberry closed out its regular season by holding off a furious second half rally from the Lincoln Memorial University Lady Railsplitters, 55-52, in Tex Turner Arena on February 24 evening … The Lady Indians were led in scoring by Ashlee Wright, who scored 14 points … Tonique Frasier scored 12 points and grabbed six rebounds for Newberry … Newberry never trailed in the game, and led by as many as nine in the first half, as two Tiffany Smalls free throws gave the Lady Indians a 30-21 lead with 2:13 until the break … That would be Newberry's final scoring in the opening 20 minutes, as LMU narrowed the deficit to 30-25 as the teams went to the dressing rooms ... The Lady Railsplitters would narrow the deficit to four points with 17:34 to play before Newberry went on a tear … Newberry responded by extending its lead to eight, followed by the two sides trading buckets … The Lady Indians then went on a 12-3 run over six minutes, taking a 52-37 lead on a layup by Anita Bulcher … But Lincoln Memorial wouldn't go away quietly, holding the Lady Indians scoreless 7:24, going on a 12-0 run to narrow the deficit to 52-49 with 35 seconds to play … Laura Marquardt was fouled with 18 seconds on the clock, and sank both of her free throws, but LMU's Betsy Bowser nailed a long-range triple with 10 seconds to play to cut the lead to two points … Monica Alexander drained a free throw with seven seconds on the clock, and the Lady Indians forced Andi Winney to miss a buzzer-beating shot and preserve the win … The Lady Indians shot 46.0 percent (23-of-50) en route to the victory, while limiting the Lady Railsplitters to 29.3 percent shooting (17-of-58 … Newberry won despite sinking no three-pointers (0-of-2) … Newberry's next game will come in Eleazer Arena at 7 p.m. Wednesday, February 28 in the quarterfinals of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament vs. Mars Hill College.
PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian snapped a 16-game losing streak and won its first game last week in a 1-1 week … The Lady Blue Hose fell to Newberry last week to open things, but bounced back to defeat the Indians of Catawba, 67-60, on Saturday … Bridget Takach led the Lady Blue Hose in the win over Catawba, corralling a career-high 10 rebounds to go along with her 12 points … The double-double was the first of Takach's career … Sharie Hopkins tied a career high with 15 rebounds in the game … Presbyterian is the ninth seed in the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Basketball Tournament and will commence the event by traveling to Lincoln Memorial for a 7 p.m. game on Monday, Feb. 26 … The winner of the game will advance to face top-seeded Wingate at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28.
TUSCULUM - The Tusculum College women's basketball team ended the 2006-07 campaign on a high note with its 93-68 home win over Mars Hill… Sophomore guard Ashli Oliver poured in a career-high 32 points and established a pair of South Atlantic Conference records… Oliver's 10 three-pointers are a new school and SAC single-game record… She has also recorded 95 trifectas this season, the most ever by a Pioneer or SAC women's basketball player… As a team, the Pioneers also set a new school and single-game record with 18 three-pointers as a team… TC shot 18-for-33 from long range (54.5 percent), including a sizzling 14-for-22 in the second half as the Pioneers outscored the Lady Lions by a 58-34 margin in the final 20 minutes… Senior Brooke Underwood shined in her final game at Pioneer Arena as she tied a school record with her 14 assists, matching the helper tally she accomplished last season… Senior Chassity Martin recorded her 1,000th career point at Tusculum in the Mars Hill game… She becomes the 11th player in recorded school history to score 1,000 points in her career (1,013)… Tusculum will be the No. 7 seed in this year's Food Lion SAC Tournament and will face second-seeded Catawba in Wednesday's quarterfinal… It will be a rematch of last year's quarterfinal showdown as the Pioneers prevailed 69-59… Tusculum has already clinched its second straight winning season for the first time in 10 years… Tusculum coach Missy Tiber has never experienced a losing season as a head coach, posting her sixth consecutive winning campaign this year... Tusculum (15-12) finished the season on a three-game winning streak.
WINGATE - Wingate University senior guard Tanetra Barrett averaged 31.5 points per game last week as the Bulldogs clinched their fourth consecutive SAC regular season title. She hit a career-high 40 points in a big home 90-76 win over Lenoir-Rhyne Wednesday. Barrett led Wingate with 23 markers in a road 70-57 win at Carson-Newman Saturday ... For the week, she averaged 31.5 points per game, 7.5 rebounds per game and 6.0 assists per game. She hit 61.8 percent of her field goals (21-of-34). On the season, Barrett leads the Bulldogs (and the SAC) with 19.1 points per game. In addition, she averages 6.2 rebounds per game and 4.1 assists per game. Barrett needs 54 points to hit the 2000-point plateau for her Bulldog career ... In the second half of the Carson-Newman contest, Barrett made one of two free throws and Kerri Metzker converted a lay-up to give Wingate a 45-30 lead with 17:23 remaining. Midway through the half, Carson-Newman cut the Wingate lead to 59-50 with seven minutes left. Barrett took charge from that point, hitting two jumpers and making four free throws to pad the Bulldog lead ... In addition to Barrett's 23 points, senior forward Kerri Metzker netted 16 points against Carson-Newman. Senior guard/forward Lakin Byer contributed 10 points off the Bulldog bench ... Against Lenoir-Rhyne, Bulldog senior forward Emily Paffrath scored 17 and pulled down four rebounds. Byer added a season-high 19 points and seven rebounds.