Lenoir-Rhyne tops #17 Women’s Basketball in SAC Semis

Greenville, S.C. —- The 17th-ranked Catawba College women's basketball team fell in the semifinal round of the South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball tournament Saturday to Lenoir-Rhyne, 68-63, at Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C. The Bears advance to Sunday's championship game and improve to 23-7 overall, while the Catawba Indians drop to 25-5 on the year.

Sara McIntosh led the way for Catawba with 22 points and nine rebounds on 8-for-10 shooting from the field. Janiya Downs added 14 points, while Lyrik Thorne had 13 points and six assists. Emily Harman had a team-high 17 points for the Bears.

Catawba out-scored Lenoir-Rhyne 36-24 from the paint, but sputtered offensively in the fourth quarter, putting up 10 points on 29 percent shooting from the field. The team corralled 16 offensive rebounds, but three-point and free throw shooting proved costly, as the Catawba Indians were just 4-for-22 and 11-for-19, respectively.

The Bears started out hot offensively in the opening quarter, going 9-for-15 from the floor for 23 points in the first quarter. Lenoir-Rhyne led as much as 17-8 after just five minutes, but Catawba responded with five straight points from Downs, Mary Spry and McIntosh to cut the the deficit to 17-15. Harman's three pushed the LR lead back to six at the 1:38 mark, as the Bears led 23-18 after 10 minutes.

Lenoir-Rhyne held the same advantage with 3:49 left in the second quarter when Catawba scored nine of the last 13 points in the quarter including five straight points from Downs and a Thorne layup with three seconds to go to give Catawba the lead at the halftime break, 39-37.

Harman hit a three to open up the second half to give LR the lead back early in the third quarter, but Jada Porter's three and McIntosh's free throw and basket reversed the advantage back in favor of Catawba. The Catawba Indians held a small lead the rest of the period, going ahead 53-52 into the final quarter.

The fourth quarter featured nine lead changes in the first seven minutes alone, as both teams traded baskets and a one-point lead. McIntosh's jumper in the paint gave Catawba a 61-60 lead at the 3:32 mark, but it was the last Catawba would lead. Azariah Fields and Hannah Stull connected on back-to-back baskets for the Bears and Thorne's potential game-tying three-pointer with three seconds was no good.

Catawba turns its attention to NCAA Regional action, where it learns its seed – and whether or not they will host the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional – on Sunday at 10:30 p.m. for the NCAA DII women's basketball selection show streamed live on NCAA.com.