Women’s Basketball Notes, January 25, 2010

Women's basketball notes and game recaps for week ending January 24, 2010.

BREVARD - The Tornados lost to No. 8 Carson-Newman on Wednesday, 114-64 in their only game last week ... Holli Flippo led the Tornados with 14 points while Samantha Winn and Anna Schlobohm chipped in 12 a piece ... Both Winn and Schlobohm scored half of their points in the first half , leading the team, each with six going into the intermission ... Flippo, who had just three points in the first half, scored 11 in the second, making three of four three point shots, and adding two steals, five rebounds, and two assists ... Brevard totaled nine steals and five blocked shots led by Amanda Whitaker with three blocked shots and five assists on the other end of the court. Lindsay Brendle and Katelynne Poole each added nine points to Brevard's total ... The Tornados travel to North Greenville Monday for a 6:00 p.m. non-conference game before returning to SAC action on Wednesday at Newberry and Saturday at home against Mars Hill.

CARSON-NEWMAN - The No. 8 Lady Eagles dropped their first game of the year on Saturday after posting their most convincing win of the season on Wednesday ... Carson-Newman (16-1, 6-1 SAC) defeated Brevard 114-64 on the road Wednesday before falling to Lenoir-Rhyne by a 78-76 score ... The Lady Eagles were one of the final seven undefeated teams in NCAA Division II ... The Lady Eagles placed five players in double figures and 11 players scored more than five points in their win over the Tornados ... Sophomore forward Zoriah Williams led the way with 17 points and nine rebounds in just 16 minutes of play ... Junior guard Mandy Mendenhall and freshman guard Candis Clear added 15 points apiece while senior guard Ashley Kyle had 12 points seven assists and seven steals ... C-N shot a season-high 55.8 percent (48-for-86) from the floor and hit 12 three pointers in the contest ... The 114 points scored by the Lady Eagles is the most ever by a Dean Walsh-coached Carson-Newman squad ... Despite having three players reach double figures in scoring Saturday and Williams leading all scorers with 23 points, Carson-Newman found itself upset by the visiting Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne ... Williams and senior forward Shari Buford each posted double-doubles as L-R's guards led the way to seal the victory for the visitors ... C-N shot just 38.8 percent to Lenoir-Rhyne's 49.1 percent mark from the floor ... The Bears responded to the Lady Eagles' press and were only forced into 15 turnovers ... Carson-Newman will host Catawba on Wednesday at Holt Fieldhouse at 6:00 p.m. before traveling to Newberry Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. contest.

CATAWBA - The Catawba women ran its winning streak to four games with a pair of home league wins last week ... The Lady Indians rallied late to steal an 88-85 win over Lincoln Memorial then won a tight battle with Newberry 66-61 ... Milica Ivanovic scored seven points for Catawba in the final 40 seconds as the Lady Indians erased an 85-79 deficit with 1:56 left ... Nisha Long started the rally on a layup with 1:10 to go then Ivanovic capitalized on two late LMU turnovers to put Catawba up 86-85 with 13 seconds to play ... Ivanovic then blocked a three-point attempt and added two free throws with six seconds remaining ... LMU had one final chance, but a three-pointer rimmed in and out ... Ivanovic finished with 28 points and hit on five three-pointers ... Dana Hicks posted a double-double with 20 points and 16 rebounds ... Long tallied 20 points ... Catawba shot 40.5 percent from the field, the first time the Lady Indians had shot 40 percent since a loss to Lee on Dec. 28 ... Catawba shot nearly 43 percent in the win over Newberry ... The teams battled back-and-forth through eight ties and 14 lead changes before Catawba took the lead for good with 9:35 to go ... Neither team led by more than six during the game ... A layup by Hicks with 1:20 to go had Catawba up 64-58 then Newberry rallied and had a shot to tie in the final seconds ... The Lady Indians had two turnovers in the final minute, but Elizabeth Merritt claimed a rebound following a missed three-pointer with six seconds left and Long iced the game with a pair of free throws with four seconds to play ... Hicks had a streak of four straight double-doubles snapped, finishing with 19 points and eight rebounds ... Long added 18 points, five assits and four steals ... Catawba held a 39-35 edge on the boards and went 11-of-13 at the line ... Catawba will travel to Carson-Newman for its lone contest of the upcoming week.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne University women's basketball team (13-4, 6-1) moved into a first-place tie with Carson-Newman College in the South Atlantic Conference standings after defeating the eighth-ranked and previously unbeaten Eagles (16-1, 6-1) by a 78-67 score Saturday evening at the Holt Fieldhouse in Jefferson City, Tenn. … Senior guard Jami Safrit (Hickory, N.C.) led the Bears with 18 points while sophomore guard Cameron Sealey (Gastonia, N.C.) and freshman forward Precious Elkins (Conyers, Ga.) added 15 and 12 points, respectively, as Lenoir-Rhyne won its third straight game … L-R held a 43-40 advantage at halftime and never relinquished the lead in the second half en route to the victory … Lenoir-Rhyne was able to hold on for the win despite 23 points and 11 rebounds from Carson-Newman's Zoriah Williams and 13 points and 15 rebounds from the Eagles' Shari Buford … However, the Bears limited the Eagles to just 39 percent shooting (26-of-67) from the field including 10 percent (one-for-10) from behind the three-point line … Senior guard Amber Holt (Charlotte, N.C.) ranks sixth on Lenoir-Rhyne's all-time career scoring list with 1,353 points and third in assists with 370 … Safrit (966) and senior center Denise Moore (Newport News, Va.) (961) look to become the 15th and 16th players in school history to cross the 1,000-point mark … L-R is 40-9 overall and 19-4 in South Atlantic Conference play since the start of the 2008-09 season … Lenoir-Rhyne remains on the road this week when it travels to Wingate (Wednesday at 6 p.m.) and Tusculum (Saturday at 2 p.m.) for a pair of league road contests … Wingate holds an all-time series advantage of 49-10 with L-R and has not lost at home to the Bears since the 1999-00 season … Lenoir-Rhyne leads the career series with Tusculum, 15-11, and won earlier this year by a 75-60 score on January 2, 2010, in Shuford Memorial Gymnasium in Hickory, N.C.

LINCOLN MEMORIAL - The LMU women's basketball team came up short in the end as Catawba came from behind to grab the 88-85 win Wednesday evening … The loss comes in spite of a 44 point performance from Dayshalee Salaman, who came off the bench to post a new LMU and South Atlantic Conference single-game scoring record … Salaman's 44 points surpasses the old LMU record of 39, held by All-Americans Terry Whitehead (vs. Lee - Feb. 10, 1986) and Debbie Green (at Tusculum - Feb. 17, 1990) … The old SAC record was 42, set by Mars Hill's Sonia Gahagan in a game versus Presbyterian on Feb. 10, 1992 … The first half saw Catawba spurt out to a 30-15 lead off a jumper by Dana Hickswith 7:59 to go … The Lady Railsplitters then mounted a 21-9 run cut the Catawba lead to 39-36 at the half … LMU kept chipping away and finally claimed the lead with a lay-up by Salaman with 12:19 to go … The Lady Railsplitters held a four point 85-81 lead with less than a minute to go but a combination of Catawba's pressure and clutch shooting from Milica Ivanovic enabled the Catawba Indians to squeak out the 88-85 win … LMU led by Salaman's 44 points … Carolyn Mills added in 19 points and Amberly O'Dell scored 15 … Cena Nasiloski led LMU on the boards with 10 rebounds … The Lady Railsplitters shot 52.7 percent from the field and 83.3 percent from the charity stripe … They also hit a blistering 60 percent from three-point range for the contest … Next up was Mars Hill on Saturday … Mars Hill led by 10 points on three occasions throughout the first half, but the Lady Railsplitters put together an enormous turn around to come away with a 77-55 victory … LMU led Mars Hill by 23 at one point in the final half of play before closing out their first meeting with the Lions in the 77-55 victory … LMU placed five players in double figures including two that finished with double-doubles … Carolyn Mills paved the way with 18 points off the bench while grabbing 10 rebounds … Dayshalee Salaman put in 16 points … Cena Nasiloski and sophomore guard Amberly O'Dell each scored 11 points … Blandine Kikwiki Mamuku finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds … LMU moves to 5-12 overall and 3-5 in league play … This Wednesday the Lady Railsplitters will travel to Bristol, Tennessee for a non-conference date with the Tornados of King College … Tip-off for Wednesday's game is set for 6:00 p.m.

MARS HILL - Mars Hill went 0-2 during the previous week of play dropping to 4-14 overall and 1-6 in the SAC. The Wingate women's basketball team held off Mars Hill late for a 68-65 win inside Stanford Arena ... Wingate opened the game in a full court press which Mars Hill had little trouble breaking. Taylor Deal (Catawba, N.C.) gave the Lions an early 7-4 lead four minutes into the game with a three from the corner. Two minutes later, Emily Parrish (Brevard, N.C.) drained a long jumper from the corner to give Wingate a 13-12 advantage ... Both teams opened the game on fire from the field. Ten minutes into the first half with Mars Hill leading 21-20, the Lions were 9-14 (64.3%) while the Bulldogs shot 9-15 (60 percent) ... Brittini Young (Ramseur, N.C.) threw up a running left-handed shot in the paint to tie the game at 23 at the 6:30 mark. Stefani Shuey (Charlotte, N.C.) gave Wingate its largest lead of the first half, 31-26, off a jumper with 2:37 left in the opening period ... Deal missed a putback attempt as time expired, and the Bulldogs led 37-33 at halftime. CC Brooks (Mount Holly, N.C.) had 10 points in the first half. Deal had nine points ... Wingate opened up an eight-point advantage, 41-33, off a shot by Kurie Washington (Marion, N.C.) with 17:43 left in the second half ... From there, Mars Hill went on an 8-2 run. Katie Buckner (Canton, Ga.) hit a layup seven minutes into the half to cut the deficit to two points, 43-41 ... The Bulldogs stretched their lead back to six points midway through the second half. A fastbreak layup by Britney Mitchell (Indian Trail, N.C.) made the score 55-49 ... The Lions trimmed the deficit back to three points at 55-52. Young hit a running layup with eight minutes remaining in the game ... Trailing 61-54 with 5:13 left in the game, Mars Hill went on a 7-0 run. Young converted a layup to tie the game with two minutes left, but Brooks drilled a three on the next possession to give the lead back to Wingate, 64-61 ... Deal gave the Lions their first lead of the second half, 65-64, with 57 seconds remaining off a bank shot in the paint, but Brooks hit another trey on the next trip down the floor to give the Bulldogs another advantage, 67-65 ... Down by three points with 12 seconds left in the second half, Young threw up a long shot from behind the arc which failed to reach its target ... Deal led all Mars Hill scorers with 15 points and eight rebounds. Young had 14 points which moved her into 22nd place past Jackie Shelton on the school's all-time scoring list. Harvey netted 13 points and seven rebounds ... The difference in the game was bench scoring. Wingate's bench outscored the Mars Hill bench 47-12. However, the Lions outscored the Bulldogs 22-11 in second chance points ... On Saturday, despite a slow start in which Mars Hill led by 10 points on three occasions throughout the first half, the Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team conducted an enormous turn around to come away with a 77-55 victory in South Atlantic Conference play ... Mars Hill's Brittini Young (Ramseur, N.C.) led all scorers with 20 points. Margaret Harvey (Greensboro, N.C.) finished the game with 12 points. Taylor Deal (Catawba, N.C.) led the Lions on the glass with seven rebounds ... Lincoln Memorial outrebounded Mars Hill 51-36 ... Mars Hill will travel to Tusculum on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m.

NEWBERRY - The Newberry College women's basketball team split in its pair of games last week, holding on to beat Tusculum and falling to Catawba … Newberry outlasted Tusculum in a down-to-the-wire thriller to gain another pivotal South Atlantic Conference victory… Newberry dominated the boards en route to the victory, amassing 44 rebounds compared to Tusculum's 27… Newberry grinded out the victory despite being outshot by the Pioneers from the floor... Newberry shot 39.3 percent (22-56) from the floor while Tusculum managed to shoot 40.7 percent (24-59)...The scarlet and gray redeemed themselves from distance by shooting 50 percent (5-10) on three point attempts... A 44.4 percent (8-18) free-throw effort plagued Tusculum as well… The teams were incredibly well matched in the first half as the squads virtually exchanged possessions for the length of the period… Anita Bulcher (Russia, Ohio) converted a three-point play the old fashioned way to put Newberry on top with 4.5 seconds remaining in the game… Tusculum's final push down the court was well defended and failed to produce a potential tying or go-ahead shot… In addition to Newberry's comeback victory, Bulcher's last second heroics completed her tenth double-double of the season… Bulcher ended the night with 20 points and 10 rebounds, both of which were better than any player on the floor… Amy Browne made it to double digit scoring as well with 10 points... Jessica Bearzatto (Melbourne, Australia) continued her reign as one of the conference's best passers with eight assists… Newberry then fell to Catawba in South Atlantic Conference action on Saturday afternoon... Newberry couldn't get shots to fall down the stretch and Catawba capitalized to draw even with the scarlet and gray in the SAC standings… Newberry was outrebounded in the game for only the fourth time this season as Catawba pulled down 39 boards compared to Newberry's 35... Newberry is just 1-3 in games when outrebounded by its opponent… Both teams shot well in the affair with Catawba just edging out the scarlet and gray from the floor... Catawba shot .426 (26-61) while Newberry shot .422 (27-64) from the floor… Late in the game, Newberry was held scoreless for two minutes and 14 seconds while Catawba opened up a 62-56 lead... Newberry cut the deficit back to four points but saw quality attempts rattle out down the stretch… Anita Bulcher led Newberry in scoring for the sixth time this season with 16 points… Leanne Watson (Stone Mountain, Ga.) ended her day with 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and two blocks... Jessica Bearzatto led Newberry's rebounding efforts with nine boards... Bearzatto also scored eight points and added an assist… Newberry returns to action on Wednesday, January 27 when the scarlet and gray host Brevard. Newberry is 8-0 this season in Eleazer Arena.

TUSCULUM - The Tusculum women's basketball team posted a 1-1 worksheet last week in South Atlantic Conference play, falling to Newberry in the closing moments of Wednesday's contest before defeating Wingate on Saturday…Tusculum dropped a tightly contested game to Newberry on Wednesday, falling 63-61 to the Scarlett and Gray on a critical three-point play with less than five seconds remaining…Jasmine Gunn scored at least 15 points for the 12th time this season, pouring in 19 markers to pace the Pioneers…Staci Hicks joined Gunn in double figures with 10 points, registering at least 10 markers for the seventh time this season…The Pioneers recorded a season-low 10 turnovers against Newberry while connecting on at least 40 percent of their attempts from the floor for the 11th time this year…Tusculum rebounded with a 67-60 win over Wingate on Saturday, out-rebounding the Bulldogs by a 49-42 margin while forcing 18 turnovers… Freshman Kendal Baxter poured in 16 points against the Bulldogs, knocking down four three-pointers in a career-high 31 minutes…With her four triples on Saturday, Baxter passed Diana Neves for second on the program's single-season list for three-pointers by a freshman with 55 trifectas…Gunn joined Baxter in double figures, pouring in 12 points while grabbing seven rebounds and dishing out three assists…With her three helpers on Saturday, Gunn pulled within two assists of tying Pioneer great Amy Connatser for third on the program's all-time list, currently sitting fourth with 447 career helpers…The 4-11 All-American also recorded two steals to take over sole possession of seventh on the program's all-time thefts list with 182 career steals, four shy of tying Amber Redding for sixth place…The Pioneers rank second in the conference in scoring (77.1), field goal percentage (43.6), rebounding (44.2) and steals (187)… The Pioneers have six players averaging more than eight points per game, including the scoring duo of Gunn and Baxter, who have combined for nearly 30 markers per contest through 17 games…Kat Spears is now within striking distance of the program's all-time blocked shots record, currently sitting second all-time with 126 career rejections, 15 behind former teammate Stephany Neptune's school-record total of 141 blocks…Gunn currently ranks in the top 10 in seven career categories, including assists (3rd/447), free throws made (3rd/348), free throws attempted (4th/447), steals (7th/182), while ranking first all-time in program history with an average of 5.7 assists per game…Jasmine Parker has quietly climbed into the top 10 on the program's career assists list, currently ranking eighth all-time with 249 helpers…Tusculum returns home to Pioneer Arena this week for a pair of SAC matchups against Mars Hill on Wednesday and Lenoir-Rhyne on Saturday.

WINGATE - The Wingate University women's basketball team split two South Atlantic Conference contests last week. On Wednesday, junior guard CC Brooks hit the game-winning three-point field goal with 37 seconds remaining to lead the Bulldogs to a 68-65 SAC road victory over Mars Hill College. The Mars Hill victory give Wingate 200 SAC victories (lifetime), tops in the nine-team league ... Brooks hit two huge three-point field goals in the second half. She led the visitors with 17 points. Brooks hit seven-of-nine field goals and added six assists, four rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot to her ledger Wednesday. Sophomore guard Kurie Washington had 16 points, while junior forward Stefani Shuey contributed 11 points. The Wingate bench outscored the Mars Hill reserves 47-12 ... A Washington jumper put Wingate up 41-33 with 17:43 remaining in the contest. Wingate led 61-54 on another Washington hoop at the 5:13 mark. Mars Hill made a 7-0 run to tie the game 61-61 with 2:21 to play ... Brooks hit the first of her triples on the next trip down the court to put Wingate up 64-61. Young hit two free throws to cut the deficit to one at the 1:37 plateau. After the Bulldogs missed a three-pointer, Mars Hill went miss-miss-make to take its first lead of the second half. The Lions converted a put-back to grab a 65-64 advantage with 54 seconds to go ... Washington found Brooks for the game-winning three-pointer on the next possession. An East Gaston product, Brooks had made only one-of-six triples prior to Wednesday night. After Mars Hill missed two inside hoops, the Lions fouled Brooks on the rebound. She hit one-of-two with 13 seconds left to settle the final margin. Mars Hill missed a potential game-tying trifecta in the waning moments ... Wingate shot 52.7 percent from the floor Wednesday, hitting 29-of-55 attempts. The Bulldogs attempted only 11 free throws, draining seven (63.6 percent). Wingate had 19 assists, with Brooks topping the charts with six helpers. Freshman guard Britney Mitchell contributed three dimes. Wingate won the rebounding battle 39-36 ... On Saturday afternoon, the Tusculum College Pioneers defeated Wingate 67-60 in SAC action in Cuddy Arena. Washington led all scorers with 18 points, grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds. Mitchell added 12 points and nine rebounds. Freshman guard Sarah Wollett handed out a game-high five assists for the Bulldogs ... Tusculum led 14-11 in the early stages. The Bulldogs battled back, taking a 17-16 lead at the 10:19 mark on a jumper from Mitchell. A jumper from Brooks put the Bulldogs on top by two with eight minutes remaining in the half ... The Pioneers answered with a 6-0 run, capped by a three at the five-minute mark to make it 25-21. Another triple at the 2:52 mark gave Tusculum a 31-24 advantage. The Pioneers led 36-28 with 40 seconds left in the half. Brooks answered with a jumper with 10 seconds remaining. The Pioneers got a bucket at the buzzer to take a 38-30 lead into intermission ... Tusculum claimed its largest lead of the game (46-34) four minutes into the second half. Wingate answered with a 9-0 run to cut the lead to three. Washington scored the final seven points of the spurt, climaxed with a three at the 12:05 mark to make it 46-43 ... The Pioneers pushed the lead back to eight with 9:33 remaining in the game. Wingate responded with an 8-1 run to cut the lead to one. Brooks got it started with a three, while Wollett capped it with a free throw at the 5:57 mark ... Tusculum again had the answer, pushing the lead back to five at the 1:30 mark. A pair of free throws from Mitchell trimmed the lead to three with 55 seconds to go. The Pioneers answered with a lay-up, then iced the game with a pair of free throws with 16 seconds remaining ... The Bulldogs shot 31.9 percent from the field, while knocking down four-of-14 three point attempts (28.6 percent). Tusculum held a 49-41 rebounding advantage, while collecting 14 second-chance points compared to Wingate's 11 ... Wingate returns to action Wednesday, hosting Lenoir-Rhyne University at 6 p.m. Washington leads the 'Dogs with her 16.8 points per game. She is fourth in the SAC in scoring. Bulldog senior post players Stacie Rhodes and Erica Crumlin have combined for 64 blocked shots this season. Their two-person total is more than six of the other eight teams in the SAC. Only Carson-Newman (97) and Tusculum (69) have more blocked shots this season than Wingate's dynamic duo.