Weekly SAC Women’s Basketball Notes - Jan. 2, 2007
Women's basketball game recaps and notes for week ending December 31, 2006
CARSON-NEWMAN - Carson-Newman is off to one of their best starts in school history with a 9-1 record ... The Lady Eagles scored on 14 straight possessions in the first half en route to a 91-45 victory over Brevard College. Carson-Newman went on a 34-2 run midway through the first half, canning five treys and shooting 54 percent from the floor. Lindsey Eggleston's three-point play gave C-N a 50-11 advantage in the first half. The Lady Eagles led 50-14 at halftime ... In the second half, C-N dominated from start to finish. An Ashley Tipton three-pointer gave C-N their largest lead of the game at 77-23 with less than seven minutes to go in the game. Holbrook decimated Brevard's defense with four triples of her own while the Lady Eagles forced 27 Brevard turnovers ... Casha Foster collected three steals and Shari Buford had two blocks in the game. Buford collected a double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Cassie Burks hit two three-pointers and scored 10 points while Catelyn Dake came off the bench to shoot 90 percent from the floor en route to a 13-point performance. Tashea LedBetter added eight points and five rebounds for the Lady Eagles ... Carson-Newman overcame an 11-point halftime deficit to defeat the University of Charleston, 78-73 at Holt Fieldhouse. The Lady Eagles (9-1) shot 51.5 percent from the field in the second half and stepped up their defensive intensity, forcing 12 second half UC turnovers ... After making four-of-six treys in the first half, the Golden Eagles were shut down by C-N and made only four of 13 three-pointers ... Trailing 35-24 entering the second half, the Lady Eagles went on a 10-2 run to tie the game at 45-45 on Shari Buford's layup. Ashley Tipton's jumper and Ashley Kyle's three-point play gave C-N their first lead of the game at 50-48 with 11:15 remaining. After Tykira McDaniel made two free throws, Kyle nailed a three-pointer for a 55-51 advantage ... The Golden Eagles tied the game at 55-55, but Cassie Burks made a layup and Buford made one of two free throws to reclaim the lead for C-N. Kyle made a layup and two free throws after Charleston head coach Sherry Winn was assessed a technical foul for arguing a call. The Lady Eagles led 63-57 but UC went on a 6-0 run to tie the game at 63-63. Burks and Buford made consecutive layups and Tashea LedBetter put back a Kyle miss to put the Lady Eagles up 71-65 with 2:13 remaining. Tipton and McDaniel made seven of eight free throws down the stretch to seal the five point victory ... Tipton led C-N with 14 points while four other Lady Eagles scored in double figures. Buford and LedBetter scored 11 apiece while McDaniel and Kyle added 10 points each. Kyle posted a double-double with her 10 points and 10 assists.
CATAWBA - The Catawba women split a pair of games at the Hoop N' Surf Classic in Honolulu, Hawaii just before Christmas ... The ladies struggled in its opening game against Concordia-St. Paul, hitting just one field goal over the first 16 minutes ... Catawba trailed 32-5 before making a second half run to cut the deficit to 13 points in the final minutes ... after hitting just 3-of-27 (11 percent) in the opening half, Catawba made 39 percent in the second half and help force 27 Concordia turnovers for the game ... Ne'Keithia Howard had 13 points, while Corin Muldrow had a double-double with 11 points and a career-best 14 rebounds ... Catawba shot 56 percent, including nearly 60 percent in the final half in its 76-61 win over BYU-Hawaii ... Howard led the way with 14 points, while Brittany Higgins tossed in 12 points and Hillary Hampton added 10 points, both off the bench ... The six-day trip was highlighted by a trip to Pearl Harbor and a luau ... Catawba plays host to a pair of games this week ... The ladies tangle with Lenoir-Rhyne for their conference opener on Wednesday night and entertain Brevard for a non-conference tilt on Saturday afternoon.
LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College women's basketball team (6-4) looks to bounce back after dropping a pair of contests last week (Friday, December 29, and Saturday, December 30) at the All-State Insurance Classic at the G.B. Hodge Center in Spartanburg, S.C. … On Friday, Lenoir-Rhyne lost in overtime to North Carolina Central, 79-55 … The Lady Eagles' Cassie King led all scorers with 30 points while Laquanda Williams came of the bench to score 21 for NCCU, who rallied from a 12-point, first-half deficit … Lenoir-Rhyne freshman guards Jami Safrit (Newton, N.C.) and Amber Holt (Charlotte, N.C.) both scored a team-high 18 points in the losing effort for the Bears … Safrit added nine assists and had a key jump shot late in the second half while King forced overtime with a field goal with four seconds left ... However, the Lady Eagles put the contest away by scoring the first eight points of the extra frame … Lenoir-Rhyne then fell to the host school, USC Upstate, 74-62, Saturday afternoon thanks to a combined 52 points by the Spartans' Danielle Edwards (27) and Kiana Smith (25) … USC Upstate also held L-R without a field goal for the last nine minutes of the first half … Lenoir-Rhyne jumped out to a 42-35 lead in the second half but USC Upstate rallied to move ahead and an 8-0 run late in the game to push the margin to double digits … Freshman Jacquelyn Kremer (Sevierville, Tenn.) scored 12 points, a team-high, while Safrit added 11 points and seven assists en route to all-tournament honors … Lenoir-Rhyne opens SAC play on Wednesday when it travels to Salisbury, N.C., to play Catawba Wednesday at 6 p.m. … The Bears lead the all-time series with the Catawba Indians, 29-27 … L-R remains on the road for a league match against Tusculum in Greeneville, Tenn., on Saturday at 2 p.m. … Lenoir-Rhyne leads that series as well, 10-6.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - The LMU women came back from the Christmas break and participated in the USC Upstate Holiday Classic on Dec. 29 and 30 ... In the first game against USC Upstate the Lady Railsplitters jumped out to the early 7-0 lead and never looked back as they captured the 60-56 victory. LMU's Madeline Richards led all scorers with 23 points and Wisemane Alcema added in ten points ... LMU dominated Upstate on the boards, outrebounding the Spartans by a 46-30 margin ... On Saturday LMU played North Carolina Central and came up short, falling to the Lady Eagles 65-60. Turnovers and going scoreless for the last four minutes saw an eight point second half lead evaporate as NCC outscored LMU 15-2 in the last seven minutes of the game to pull out the victory ... LMU was led by Richards and freshman Andi Winney with 14 points each. Latoya Johnson, Betsy Bowser and Heather Benton each scored ten points apiece ... Richards was named to the All-Tournament Team ... The Lady Railsplitters will play their first-ever SAC game at Carson-Newman on Jan. 3 before returning home for the first time since Nov. 28 when they host Wingate on Jan. 6 and Tusculum on Jan. 8.
MARS HILL - MHC went 1-1 over the break. The Lions are now 6-3 overall ... In the first game of the week, Elizabeth O'Brien (Mansfield, OH) put back an offensive rebound with four seconds left in regulation to lift Ashland University to a 88-87 victory over Mars Hill's women's basketball team Tuesday night in Stanford Arena. Abby DeBusk (New Tazewell, TN) led MHC with 26 points connecting on 10-of-15 field goals while Ariel Okunowo (Decatur, GA) followed with 18 points and five rebounds. Allison Schafer (Advance, NC) recorded 16 points and eight boards in the contest ... The Lions converted on 53.6 percent (37-69) of their field goals in the game. Amber Rall (Bucyrus, OH) and O'Brien led the Eagles with 21 points apiece. Lacy Romine (Kettering, OH) came off the bench to add 13 points, scoring 11 in the second frame. Ashland hit 50 percent (37-74) of their field goals in the contest ... The first half was closely played with neither team holding more than a four-point lead until the Lions scored two unanswered baskets to lead by eight points (42-34) with 2:39 left in the opening half after Lindsay Roberts (Murphy, NC) hit a layup. Roberts ended the game with 10 points and five rebounds ... MHC took the eight-point lead (46-38) into the locker room at the intermission. The Lions started the second half strong, out scoring the Eagles 11-to-3 to take their biggest lead of the game, 16 points (57-41), with 17:26 left in the contest after DeBusk scored in the lane. Ashland settled down and went on a 32-to-15 run over the next 10 minutes of play to take a one-point (74-73) advantage at the 7:38 mark when Romine hit a layup ... After that point the game saw seven lead changes and five ties before O'Brien hit the game winner ... MHC turned the ball over on the ensuing in-bounds pass as time expired. In the final 40 seconds of play, Okunowo hit a pair of foul shots to give MHC an 85-84 lead. O'Brien was then fouled and she sank two shots at the foul line to give Ashland a 86-85 lead with 31 ticks left on the clock. DeBusk then hit a tough driving shot in the lane with 16 seconds left in regulation to give the Lions a 87-86 advantage ... Ashland scored 56 points in the paint compared to the Lions hitting 48 points in the lane ... Ashland received 34 points off their bench and scored 20 points off the break. MHC went 11-for-12 at the charity stripe ... In game two, Abby DeBusk (New Tazewell, TN) scored 28 points to propel the Lions over Limestone College tonight 85-79 at the Timken Center. DeBusk entered the game needing 24 points to enter the program's 1,000-point club. She becomes the 20th player in school history to score 1,000 career points ... MHC led by 11 (45-34) at the break and then held on to the six-point win in the second frame despite Limestone hitting 46.6 percent (34-73) of their shots shots compared to the Lions connecting on 40.3 percent of their field goals (27-67). The game was won at the charity stripe. MHC converted on 24-of-29 foul shots (82.8 percent) while the Saints just had five attempts at the foul line (5-for-5) ... MHC also controlled the boards winning the rebound battle, 45-to-37. MHC took good care of the ball in the win as they made only 12 turnovers in the contest, a season low. Allison Schafer (Advance, NC) followed DeBusk with 26 points and seven rebounds while Jessica Blanford (Concord, NC) and Ariel Okunowo (Decatur, GA) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Blanford posted a double-double adding 11 rebounds ... The 28 points scored by DeBusk was just a single point shy of her career high set against SAC rival Catawba College on February 16, 2006 ... Monica Adams led Limestone with 20 points and seven boards. Blanca Gonzalez followed with 17 points and eight rebounds ... MHC will return to action on January 3, when they host the University of Charleston. The Lions will then open SAC play at Presbyterian on Saturday.
NEWBERRY - Newberry College improved to 11-0 on the season with two victories over the winter break … The two wins extended the Lady Indian win streak to 11 games which ties the school record for consecutive wins set during the 1987-88 season … The scarlet and gray hosted Francis Marion on December 16 at Eleazer Arena and dominated the Patriots 63-42 … Tonique Frasier netted 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the floor including a 4-for-5 performance from the free throw line … The Walterboro, S.C. native also churned out nine rebounds and five steals in the 21-point victory … A secondary attack was launched by starters Monica Alexander and Ashlee Wright as well as reserve Ashley Marine … Alexander finished with nine points and nine assists and Wright with eight points, six rebounds, and two assists … Marine came off the bench and drilled three triples for nine points in 15 minutes of play … Newberry continued it's long homestand defeating Shorter College 77-41 … The Lady Indians held their fifth opponent to under 20 first half points and secured a 44-19 lead at the half and cruised to an easy victory … Once again junior forward Tonique Frasier led all scorers with 18 points along with seven boards and five steals in just 19 minutes of play … Head coach Jason Brink deployed his bench with over 44 percent of the offense coming from reserves … Ashley Marine broke double-digits with 10 points and sophomore Anita Bulcher registered eight points and nine rebounds … The Lady Indian defense amassed 25 steals, forcing 35 turnovers.
PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian fell to USC Aiken 58-50 in its only game last week … The Lady Blue Hose pulled to within three points in the final minutes of the contest, but USC Aiken went 6-for-8 from the charity stripe in the final 44 seconds of the game to seal the victory … Bridget Takach led the Lady Blue Hose in the game, finishing with a team-best 11 points … The Chapin, S.C. native also had four assists … Taylor Price finished the evening with eight caroms.
TUSCULUM - The Tusculum women's basketball team enters South Atlantic Conference play with an 8-3 overall record ... The Pioneers went 1-2 during the last reporting period posting a win over Francis Marion (71-61), while suffering losses to Columbus State (69-74) and Georgia College & State (52-64) ... Senior Chassity Martin has recorded 123 career three-pointers, the second most in school history. Martin needs three more treys to match the school record held by former two-time All SAC standout Julie Maples (2001-05). Sophomore Ashli Oliver already has 116 three-pointers through 39 games, which are third all-time ... Red-shirt freshman Diana Neves has emerged as Tusculum's top scorer averaging 13.5 points per game off the bench, including 18.3 ppg in her last four games ... Tusculum enters this week's SAC opener riding a seven-game home wi ning streak, including 5-0 this year at Pioneer Arena. Over the past two seasons, the Pioneers are 20-3 when scoring at least 70 points ... Senior Brooke Underwood has recorded double-digit assists 17 times during her career. Tusculum is 14-3 when Underwood dishes out at least 10 assists.
WINGATE - The Wingate University women's basketball team will tip-off South Atlantic Conference play this week. The Bulldogs took home the regular season conference championship a season ago. Wingate was 13-1 in regular season conference games in 2005-06. The Bulldogs are the number 18 team in the last USA TODAY ESPN Division II top 25 coaches' poll (released Dec. 19) ... Wingate will travel to Newberry College on Wednesday, January 3 for a 6 p.m. game (listen at Red Zone Media). The Bulldogs will then travel to Harrogate, Tenn. to take on SAC newcomer Lincoln Memorial University at 6 p.m. on Saturday, January 6 (listen at Red Zone Media) ... Wingate traveled to West Virginia last weekend to participate in the WVSU-UC Kanawha City Red Roof Classic. The Bulldogs went 1-1 in the event to move their record to 8-3 overall ... On Friday, December 29, Wingate fell to the University of Charleston 71-66. Wingate senior forward Kerri Metzker led the way with 20 points. Metzker also recorded six rebounds and four assists. Senior forward Emily Paffrath and senior guard Tanetra Barrett had 18 and 14 points, respectively. Barrett also had a team-high eight rebounds ... Wingate defeated West Virginia State University 71-42 on Saturday, December 30. Metzker recorded a double-double for the victors with 17 points and 10 rebounds. For the weekend, Metzker averaged 18.5 points per game, 8.0 rebounds per game and 3.5 assists per game. She hit 65.2 percent of her field goals in the two West Virginia contests. Barrett had a well-balanced game for the Bulldogs with 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists against West Virginia State ... Wingate swept the regular season series against Newberry during the 2005-06 season. Newberry defeated the Bulldogs in the 2006 Food Lion SAC tournament on its way to the title a season ago. Both Wingate and Newberry participated in the 2006 NCAA tournament, with Wingate advancing to the NCAA Division II Sweet 16. Wingate will travel to Lincoln Memorial Saturday as the Bulldogs will take on the Railsplitters for the first time ... Wingate's eight wins this season gives head coach Johnny Jacumin 576 victories for his illustrious Bulldog career. Coach Jacumin is fourth on the NCAA Division II winningest active coaches win list. His .729 winning percentage (entering the season) ranks 15th among active NCAA Division II coaches. Lincoln Memorial head coach Roger Vannoy is 12th on the NCAA wins list with 456 victories (entering this week's play). Vannoy charts at the number 31 position in winning percentage with a .660 clip (entering the season) ... 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.