Weekly Women’s Basketball Notes, February 16, 2009

Women's basketball notes and game recaps for week ending February 15, 2009.

BREVARD - The Tornados went 1-1 this past week, completing the season sweep against North Greenville on Wednesday, 82-62, while falling on the road in conference play to Wingate, 94-72 ... Brevard moves to 6-17 in their inaugural season as full SAC and Division II members ... Samantha Winn had a career week, averaging 30 points and 10.5 rebounds per game, while shooting 51.3 percent (19-37) for the week ... Winn had a career high 32 points against the Crusaders on Wednesday, scoring 16 points in each half, and pulled down nine rebounds, while Holli Flippo scored 13, going 3-5 from behind the arc ... The Tornados defense forced 27 turnovers in the game ... North Greenville took a four-point lead in the second half, before Winn put in a pair of layups to start a 15-1 run to take over the ball game with 12:11 left ... The Crusaders were able to bring the game back within eight, but Brevard responded with a 20-8 run to close out the game for their sixth win of the season ... On Saturday, Winn tied her second-best mark, scoring 28 points and 12 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the season ... Kelly Hudler broke double figures for the fourth time this season with 11 points, and Holli Flippo had the first 10 rebound game of her collegiate career ... The Tornados, down by 11 at half, tried to bring the game back as Winn scored 12 and Anna Schlobohm added eight in the second half, but Brevard was not able to get back into the game, falling on the road, 94-72 ... Brevard hosts it's PinkZone game on Wednesday as Carson-Newman comes into town. The Tornados finish up the home portion of their conference schedule on Saturday against Tusculum.

CARSON-NEWMAN - Senior Ashley Tipton broke the 1,000-point career scoring mark as the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles turned in an 0-2 week with losses to Lenoir-Rhyne and Tusculum 76-73 (OT) and 94-91 respectively ... Tipton's final bucket in the TC loss put her over the plateau … Junior Shari Buford is just seven points shy of the mark with 993 career points … The Lady Eagles held a 68-65 lead with 48 seconds left in regulation against the Bears on Wednesday, but L-R's Amber Holt drilled a 3-pointer to tie the game and send it into overtime ... Junior guard Ashley Kyle (Jefferson City, Tenn.) paced the Lady Eagles with 20 points ... Shari Buford (Hampton, Ga.) tossed in 12 points and nine rebounds ... Angela Volentine (North Platte, Neb.) added 10 points and nine boards in the loss ... The Lady Eagles shot 43.5 percent (27-of-62) from the field but were just 3-of-14 from behind the arc ... The Lady Eagles jumped out to a 7-2 lead to begin the game, but the Bears responded with a 7-0 run to take a 9-7 lead ... Mandy Mendenhall (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) then stole the ensuing inbounds pass, missed a layup but was able to collect her own rebound and put it back in before the buzzer to tie the game at 29-29 heading into the locker room ... C-N opened the second half on a 15-9 run, taking a 44-38 lead ... Volentine converted an old fashion 3-point play with 48 seconds left to put C-N ahead 68-65 ... Tusculum College women's basketball team defeated Carson-Newman 94-91 ... TC avenges an earlier season loss to the Lady Eagles (16-7, 7-5 SAC) and C-N suffers its second straight three-point loss to a nationally-ranked team ... Zoriah Williams tallied 23 points and eight rebounds off the bench ... Shari Buford finished with 21 points and nine rebounds. Buford, who leads the nation in field goal percentage, shot 8-for-14 from the floor ... Ahley Tipton added 16 points and five assists, while Ahley Kyle finished with 14 markers, including a dozen in the second half ... With the score tied at 34-34 with 4:04 remaining in the period, Tusculum rattled off six straight points ... The Lady Eagles responded with six in a row of their own, all from the free throw line to knot the contest at 40-40 ... In the first half, Tusculum out-rebounded C-N by a 26-14 margin, but the Lady Eagles went 13-for-15 at the free throw line and shot 46.2 percent from the floor ... With the Tusculum leading 69-58 with 11 minutes left, C-N would retaliate with a 17-4 run over the next five minutes as the Lady Eagles led 75-73 with 6:43 left in the game ... C-N fired 27-for-33 at the foul line (81.8 percent)...Carson-Newman will be at Brevard College on Wednesday at 6 p.m.

CATAWBA - Catawba's women won twice last week, rolling to a 71-54 win over Newberry on Wednesday and rallying for an 84-83 win at Mars Hill on Saturday ... Brooke Whitley scored a career-high 22 points, hitting on five three-pointers, against Newberry ... She hit on 7-of-13 field goals and 5-of-11 behind the arc ... The Lady Indians led by as many as 26 in the win, using a 32-12 run over a 10 minute span in the second half ... Cameron Clark added 14 points with Brittany Higgins and Dana Hicks each scoring 12 points ... Catawba shot 56 percent in the second half and 47 percent for the game and held Newberry to just 1-of-14 from three-point range, while canning a season-high nine shot from behind the arc ... The Lady Indians overcame a 13-point deficit in the final 6:19 to get the win at Mars Hill ... Whitley started a 10-0 run with a three-pointer with 6:08 to play then gave Catawba its first lead of the second half on a trifecta with six seconds remaining ... Hicks posted a double-double in the win, scoring a career-high 23 points and adding 11 rebounds ... Clark scored 10 points and dished out eight assists ... Catawba was out-rebounded 47-33 in the win, but had just eight turnovers and helped force 17 miscues from Mars Hill ... Catawba will host Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday which is designated as the WBCA PinkZone fight against breast cancer night ... The Lady Indians travel to Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The No. 23 Lenoir-Rhyne women's basketball team (21-3, 11-2) won both its South Atlantic Conference games this week to remain tied for first place in the league standings with Tusculum … Lenoir-Rhyne defeated Carson-Newman, 76-73, in overtime on Wednesday in Jefferson City, Tenn., before overwhelming Lincoln Memorial by a 91-55 score on Saturday at home … Against the Lady Eagles, senior guard Amber Holt (Charlotte, N.C.) hit a three-pointer with 25 seconds left to force overtime tied at 68 … Holt finished with 18 points and hit the game-winning free throws with 1:49 remaining while junior guard Brittany Mitch (McLean, Va.) led all scorers with 20 points … Against Lincoln Memorial, Lenoir-Rhyne closed the first half with a 14-3 run for a 38-23 advantage at the break … L-R then broke the game open with 23 straight points in the second half and led by as many as 40 points (80-40 with 6:27 remaining) … Senior forward Denise Moore (Newport News, Va.) led all scorers with 25 points in the victory … The 36-point margin of win against the Lady Railsplitters was also the Bears' largest of the season … Lenoir-Rhyne swept the season series from both Carson-Newman and Lincoln Memorial … Holt now has 1,062 points for her career, ranking 11th on Lenoir-Rhyne's all-time lists … L-R's 21-3 record is its best after 24 games since the 1979-80 season, when it started 22-2 … Lenoir-Rhyne is also ranked second in the current NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Rankings … L-R won 20 games in a season for the first time in 22 years (the 1986-87 team went 20-10 on the year) as well … Lenoir-Rhyne, which is 10-1 at home this year and 6-0 against league opponents in 2008-09, hosts Catawba on Saturday beginning at 6 p.m. … Lenoir-Rhyne won earlier this year between the two teams by a 79-64 score and leads the all-time series, 32-29.

LINCOLN MEMORIAL - With less than two weeks remaining in the regular season, the Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team could be playing its best basketball of the year … On Wednesday night, the LMU women won their fourth game in the last five tries when they knocked of South Atlantic Conference opponent Mars Hill College 89-77 at home in the Tex Turner Arena. In the past two weeks, the Lady Railsplitters have captured conference wins over Wingate University, Brevard College and most recently, Mars Hill College. Throw into that mix a non-conference win over North Greenville University and LMU's only loss in the last five games came at the hands of 14th ranked Tusculum College … On Wednesday night, the Lady Railsplitters played Mars Hill for the final time of the regular season. To fans that braved the bad weather to witness the game, clearly the LMU women dominated nearly every aspect of their final regular season meeting with the Lions. Aside from allowing Mars Hill six more rebounds then LMU had, the Lady Railsplitters hit 55.6 percent from the floor, 47.4 percent from 3-point range and a blistering 87 percent from the free throw line in their win over Mars Hill … Sophomore Amberly O'Dell (Argos, IN) and freshman Dayshalee Salaman (Carolina, Puerto Rico) finish with top scoring honors for LMU in Wednesday night's win over the Lions. Each contributed 17 points, while O'Dell was 4-7 from behind the 3-point line and finished with five assists … Also scoring double figures for the Lady Railsplitters were guard Kara Harris (Alcoa, TN) who had 13, and forwards Andi Winney (Yorktown, IN) and Cena Nasiloski (Hammond, IN) who scored 12 and 10 respectively … Nasiloski also led LMU in rebounding with seven boards … Now 10-13 overall and 4-8 in the South Atlantic Conference, the LMU women will find out Saturday if in fact they are playing well enough to compete with the best the league has to offer ... The twenty-third ranked Lenoir-Rhyne University women's basketball team (21-3, 11-2 SAC) remained tied atop the South Atlantic Conference Saturday evening as it defeated Lincoln Memorial University (10-14, 4-9 SAC) by a 91-55 margin … The game also served as the Bears' annual WBCA Pink Zone game, a fundraiser for the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund … LMU kept the game close for most of the first half until Lenoir-Rhyne went on a 14-3 run in the last 5:18 of the stanza. The Bears would go into the locker room with a 38-23 advantage … L-R junior center Denise Moore scored 16 points in the first half on seven-for-10 shooting from the field. After the break, the Bears went on a 25-4 run that covered 8:24 to sound the death knell for the Lady Railsplitters … L-R shot four-for-six from behind the arc during that period as junior guards Meredith Webster and Brittany Mitch converted two triples each … Lenoir-Rhyne reached its largest lead of the game at the 6:27 mark as it led LMU, 80-40. The 36-point margin of victory was the largest of the year for the Bears … Lincoln Memorial was led by Kara Harris with 11 points including nine from long range and Dayshalee Salaman, who added 10 points and four assists.

MARS HILL - The Lions went 0-2 during the previous week of play, falling to 12-12 overall and 5-8 in the SAC. Lincoln Memorial used a late first half surge to pull away from Mars Hill for an 89-77 victory Wednesday night inside Tex Turner Arena … Mars Hill held a 13-10 lead at the 12:12 mark in the first half off a jumper by Bria Smith (Snellville, Ga.). With 2:37 left in the opening period and the game tied at 28-all, Lincoln Memorial went on a 10-0 run. Cena Nasiloski (Hammond, Ind.) had two buckets in the paint during the sequence. Stephanie Wagner (Elkhart, Ind.) hit a jumper with one second left on the clock, and the Lady Railsplitters had a 40-32 advantage at intermission … A Jessica Blanford (Concord, N.C.) bucket in the paint at the 18:45 mark in the second half cut the deficit to five points, 42-37, but Lincoln Memorial stretched its lead to 48-37 off a fastbreak layup by Dayshalee Salaman (Carolina, Puerto Rico) … Trailing 54-44 with 14:24 left in the game, Mars Hill went on a 14-7 run. Brittini Young (Ramseur, N.C.) had eight points during the run. Two Young free throws at the 9:51 mark cut the Lady Railsplitter's lead to 61-58 … Lincoln Memorial responded and stretched its lead to 69-60 off a jumper in the paint by Andi Winney (Yorktown, Ind.), but the Lions answered with a 7-0 run, capped by a Blanford bucket in the paint, to cut the deficit to two points, 69-67, with 4:39 left in the game. However, Mars Hill would get no closer … The Lady Railsplitters outscored the Lions 18-7 over the next 4:06 to put the game away. Amberly O'Dell (Argos, Ind.) converted six of Lincoln Memorial's 12 straight made free throws to ice the game … Ariel Okunowo (Decatur, Ga.) poured in a season-high 20 points for the Lions. She was 7-13 from the field and 4-6 from behind the arc. Young had 15 points and was 13-14 from the charity stripe … Blanford posted a double-double for Mars Hill with 10 points and 11 rebounds. She now has 1,021 career points and is six points away from passing Jackie Shelton for 21st on the school's all-time scoring list … Brooke Whitley (New London, N.C.) hit a three-pointer from the corner with six seconds left in the game to give Catawba an 84-83 win over Mars Hill Saturday inside Stanford Arena … Before the game, seniors Jessica Blanford (Concord, N.C.), Danielle Francis (Bamberg, S.C.), Shannon Lee (Four Oaks, N.C.), Ariel Okunowo (Decatur, Ga.) and Shamia Terry (Greenville, S.C.) were honored for their hard work and dedication over the last four years … Making the first start of her career, Francis had two buckets in the early going, including a 15-footer, to give the Lions an 8-5 lead at the 17:32 mark. Catawba came back with a 6-0 run, capped by a Nisha Long (Dallas, N.C.) layup with 16:28 left in the half … Trailing 17-14, Mars Hill went on a 10-2 run in a span of 2:25. Okunowo scored four consecutive points, including a fastbreak layup, to conclude the run and give the Lions a five point lead, 24-19, at the 11:42 mark … Catawba tied the game 28-all off a Brittany Higgins (Takoma Park, Md.) jump shot with 6:59 left in the first half. From there, Mars Hill went on a 16-6 run. Two fastbreak layups by Francis and Okunowo finished off the spurt and made the score 44-36 in favor of the Lions … Kisha Long (Dallas, N.C.) hit a layup with two seconds remaining in the half, but Mars Hill led 47-42 at intermission … Dana Hicks (York, S.C.) had 13 at the midway point for Catawba. Okunowo had 13 for Mars Hill, while Terry had 10 … Whitley opened the second half scoring with a jumper to cut the deficit to 47-44 in favor of Mars Hill … Leading 57-56, the Lions went on an 8-0 run. Okunowo drained back to back three-pointers to give Mars Hill a nine point lead, 65-56, with 12:01 left in the game. A Young shot from behind the arc gave the Lions their largest lead of the game, 75-62, with 7:30 left in the game … Trailing 77-64, Catawba went on a 10-0 run. A Nisha Long layup finished off the spurt. A free throw by Hicks cut the game to 78-77 … Hicks made a layup with 23 seconds left in the game to cut the deficit to one point, 82-81, in favor of Mars Hill. Young was fouled and made 1-2 free throws with 14 seconds left to give the Lions an 83-81 advantage before Whitley's game changing play on the next possession. A Young desperation heave from half court at the end bounced off the front of the rim … Okunowo scored a season-high 21 points and was 8-12 from the field. Young poured in 16 points. Terry recorded a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds … Blanford had 10 points. She now has scored 1,031 career points and moved past Jackie Shelton (1,026 career points) for 21st on the school's all-time scoring list … Mars Hill will host Wingate Wednesday night at 6 p.m. inside Stanford Arena. Tip-time is set for 6 p.m.

NEWBERRY - The Newberry College women's basketball team lost in their only game this past week, falling to the Catawba Indians, 71-54… Although the team lost, Anita Bulcher (Russia, Ohio) played one of the best games of her career by posting a career high 22 points… She shot 9-for-12 from the field and pulled down a game high 10 rebounds... Monica Alexander (Norcross, Ga.) also played well and earned 14 points, eight rebounds, and five assists… Bulcher scored the first bucket of the first half but Catawba answered back with a 10-0 run to grab the early advantage… The scarlet and gray brought the deficit down to four points but the Catawba Indians would hold on and improve their lead to as much as 12 points. Newberry trailed at the half, 30-22… Newberry held the opposition to 39.3 percent shooting from the field in the first half but could not capitalize on offense… NC shot a mere 32 percent from the floor and went 0-for-8 from three-point range… The scarlet and gray, third in the country in rebounding margin, were outrebounded by the Catawba Indians, 20-18 before the break… The scarlet and gray seemed to find a rhythm and brought the deficit down to five points at the start of the second half... Unfortunately, Catawba kicked it up a notch offensively and eventually put the game out of reach… Catawba shot 15-for-27 from the field and 6-for-11 from downtown in the final half... Despite holding the home team to zero points in the final four minutes, Newberry earned a 17 point loss… It was a rough shooting night for the scarlet and gray as they struggled from both three-point range and at the foul line… On the night they shot 1-for14 from beyond the arc and only made 61 percent of their free throw attempts. On a positive note, they outrebounded the opposition, 38-27… The loss puts the Newberry College women's basketball team at 14-9 overall and 7-5 in the SAC... NC will return home next Wednesday, February 18 to take on No. 15 Tusculum at 6 p.m.

TUSCULUM - The No. 14 Tusculum women's basketball posted its second consecutive 2-0 week with an 85-66 win at Wingate on Wednesday before registering a dramatic 94-91 victory over archrival Carson-Newman at Pioneer Arena on Saturday…Tusculum enters the week with a 21-3 overall record, having won four straight games and eight of its last nine to remain tied with Lenoir-Rhyne for the South Atlantic Conference lead with an 11-2 in-conference mark…Jasmine Gunn poured in a game-high 28 points in TC's win over Carson-Newman, connecting on 9-of-17 shots from the floor and went 10-for-10 at the charity stripe to pace the Pioneer attack…Gunn notched her second straight nine-assist game on Saturday, and has recorded at least six helpers in each of her last five contests…Stephany Neptune, Nikki Van Dine, and Gunn became the first Pioneer trio to post three 20-point performances in the same game since Jan. 16, 1996…Neptune posted two double-doubles last week, averaging 17.5 points and 15.5 rebounds in TC's two wins…The junior forward poured in 14 points against Wingate on 5-of-10 shooting while hauling down a season-high 18 rebounds to notch her ninth double-double of the year… The Wallkill, N.Y. native then recorded her fourth consecutive double-double with 21 points and 13 boards in TC's 94-91 win over Carson-Newman on Saturday, knocking down 8-of-15 attempts from the floor while converting all of her five free throw opportunities…With her two double-doubles, Neptune has now recorded at least five rebounds in 59 straight games…Neptune has recorded at least one block in her last 13 games to set a new program record with 128 career rejections…The 5-9 forward is currently third all-time in TC history with 835 rebounds and has recorded at least 10 points and seven boards in her last 11 games…Neptune currently leads the SAC in rebounding (9.3 RPG) and needs 30 points for 1,000 in her career…Ashli Oliver knocked down two three-pointers on Saturday to move into a tie for fourth all-time in NCAA Division II history with 364 career triples…The senior guard needs just five treys to move into second all-time and, with six more threes, would become the second player in Div. II history to knock down 370 career trifectas…Oliver is currently fifth on TC's all-time scoring list with 1467 career points, and needs just 33 markers to become the fifth player in program history to pour in 1500 career points…Shantae Shank needs 10 more points for 900 in her career and has posted a career-high 52.8 percent field goal percentage so far this season…Kat Spears had perhaps her best game in a Pioneer uniform against Wingate, pouring in a career-high 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting while hauling down 13 rebounds…The junior forward is fourth all-time at TC with 82 career blocks and needs 15 points to reach the 500-point plateau for her career… Tusculum has posted a field goal percentage of at least 43 percet in each of its last 17 games, entering the week leading the nation with a 48.3 percent clip from the floor this season…The Pioneers are a perfect 12-0 on their home floor this season, having won their last 22 games in Pioneer Arena dating back to the spring of 2007…Tusculum is 14-1 this year when blocking at least five shots, and are a perfect 14-0 when holding its opponents to less than 70 points…The Pioneers are averaging a SAC-best 85.4 points per game while outscoring their opponents by 20.1 markers per contest to lead the conference…Tusculum has shot 82.3 percent from the free throw line over its last 10 games to move into the third spot in the conference with a 73.9 percentpercent clip at the charity stripe this season…Tusculum is on the road for a pair of games this week, traveling to Newberry on Wednesday before making the trip to Brevard on Saturday.

WINGATE - The Wingate University Bulldogs split a pair of conference games last week. They fell to 14th-ranked Tusculum 85-66 Wednesday night. Sophomore forward Jessy Keitt led the Wingate attack with 12 points. Sophomore forward CC Brooks and freshman guard Kurie Washington added 11 points each while senior guard Anna Atkinson chipped with 10 ... The Bulldogs defeated Brevard College 94-72 Saturday afternoon. Atkinson led the way with 19 points, nine assists and five steals. She was 11-for-12 from the free throw line on the afternoon. Freshman forward Gladney Brown added 19 points on nine-of-11 shooting from the field. Washington chipped in with 16 points. Brooks and senior forward Leslie Tucker had 13 and 11 points, respectively ... The Bulldogs used a 10-0 run to turn a seven point lead into a 56-39 advantage four minutes into the second half. Brooks had six points to spark the run. Wingate added a 14-4 run over a three-minute span to take a 22-point lead. Senior guard Brittany West drained three consecutive treys to give Wingate a 78-56 lead with eight minutes to play. The lead would stay above 19 points the rest of the way ... Wingate shot 44.4 percent from the field, while hitting 27-of-35 free throw attempts. The Bulldogs converted 24 Tornado turnovers into 28 points. Wingate also held a 44-22 advantage in points in the paint ... Atkinson leads the SAC in assists (6.8 assists per game), steals (3.5 steals per game) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.36-to-1). She leads the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio while ranking third nationally in assists. Atkinson also leads Wingate with 15.9 points per game which ranks her third in the league. With her five steals on Saturday, Atkinson moved into second place on the SAC's all-time steals list. She has 339 for her career, 13 shy of tying the all-time record. She also ranks second in career assists with 747. The all-time record is 819 ... The Bulldogs are on the road Wednesday, traveling to Mars Hill for a 6 p.m. start. Wingate beat Mars Hill 84-75 on January 21 at Wingate. Brooks led the way with 23 points while Atkinson added 11 points, 10 assists and seven steals. The Bulldogs host Newberry Saturday at 2 p.m. Newberry topped Wingate 95-90 on December 6. Washington had 26 points while Atkinson added 17 points and seven assists.