Women’s Basketball Notes, February 28, 2011
Women's basketball notes and game recaps for week ending February 27, 2011:
ANDERSON - The Trojans dropped back-to-back road games to close out the season, falling 51-46 at Wingate and by a 74-65 count at Carson-Newman. Sophomore Breonda Shannon averaged 11.5 points and 9.5 rebounds to lead Anderson on the week. The duo of Alexa Neal and Alissa Diaz also averaged 11.5 points, while Neal grabbed 12 boards and handed out seven assists in the two contests. The Trojans enter their first SAC Tournament as the eighth seed at top-seeded Tusculum on Wednesday. The Trojans split the regular-season series with the Lady Pioneers, falling 76-52 in Greeneville, Tenn., in mid-January before upsetting Tusculum, 67-65, just two weeks ago at the Abney Center.
BREVARD - The Brevard College Tornados finished out their season going 0-2 in the final week ... They first fell to Newberry on Wednesday night, 58-41, then to Wingate on Saturday 72-69 ... Amanda Whitaker led the Tornados with 12 points and four rebounds in the loss to the Wolves ... Holli Flippo was good for seven points and eight rebounds in the loss, while Anna Schlobohm and Micheala Watkins each chipped-in six points a piece ... Lindsay Brendle scored 21 points for the Tornados while Watkins added 14. Whitaker and Flippo contributed nine points a piece, while Schlobohm scored eight in the loss ... Brevard finished the season 6-22 and 2-16 in South Atlantic Conference play.
CARSON-NEWMAN - The Carson-Newman Lady Eagles went 2-0 on the week to close out their regular season ... C-N finishes regular season play at 13-15 overall and 9-9 in the conference ... The Lady Eagles received the No. 6 seed in the 2011 Food Lion SAC Tournament and will travel to third-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne on Wednesday for the first round ... Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. ... Senior guard Mandy Mendenhall poured in seven of her team-high 19 points in overtime to lead the Carson-Newman to a 97-91 victory at Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday night ... C-N outscored the Railsplitters 14-8 in the extra session to secure the win ... C-N was able to overcome 25 turnovers by shooting 53.2 percent (33-of-62) from the floor and making 25-of-33 attempts from the free throw line ... Mendenhall's 19 points paced five Lady Eagles in double figures ... Freshman Shannon Depew tossed in 18 points and tied her career-high with 14 rebounds, while Zoriah Williams added 16 points and 10 rebounds ... Senior Katlin Moore also had 16 points, and Rechelle Dye netted a career-high 15 points, including an 11-of-13 effort from the charity stripe ... With a jump shot in the second half, Moore scored her 1,000th point as a collegiate athlete and had nine for the game as she helped the Lady Eagles put away Anderson (S.C.) University, 74-65, to close out the regular season on Saturday ... Moore wasn't the only senior making her last appearance on the Holt Fieldhouse floor in a Carson-Newman uniform ... Mendenhall lit up the scoreboard on her final night with the Lady Eagles, scoring 14 points and was instrumental in a late first half surge that allowed C-N to go into halftime tied 31-31 ... Down by six with three minutes to go in the opening half, Mendenhall hit a free throw and then zeroed in on a 3-pointer to pull within two ... Two free throws from Dye and a layup from Williams evened the game and gave the Lady Eagles the momentum ... Williams finished the game with 17 points ... C-N stayed on the attack in the second half, taking the lead for good with a layup from Depew … Courdne Miles teamed up with Williams and Depew to dominate the game inside the paint ... Miles finished with 15 points, with 10 coming in the first half...Depew scored six in the game.
CATAWBA - The Catawba women split its two games on the week, falling 90-75 at Mars Hill before topping Newberry 79-60 on senior day ... Dana Hicks had two stellar games to close the regular season ... She scored 27 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the loss to Mars Hill then tallied 25 points while pulling down a career-high 19 rebounds in the win over Newberry ... She hit on 8-of-12 shots in that win and went 20-24 at the line in the two contests ... Senior Milica Ivanovic had a big day in her final home game ... She poured in 24 points with six rebounds and five assists in the Newberry win ... She hit on 4-of-6 three-pointers and had 15 points in the first half to help Catawba to a 41-27 lead at the break ... The Lady Indians led by double digits the entire second half ... Catawba shot 46 percent and held a dominating 44-28 edge on the glass ... Senior Kisha Long added 16 points with four assists in her final home game ... Hicks' double-double against Newberry was her 20th of the season ... She is averaging 27.2 points and 11.4 rebounds a game ... The Lady Indians will travel to Wingate as the No. 7 seed for a first round SAC Tournament game ... The teams split two tight meetings in the regular season.
LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne University women's basketball team (14-12, 11-7) ended the regular season with back-to-back losses to Tusculum (53-43) and Lincoln Memorial (81-77) this past Wednesday and Saturday, respectively … Tusculum's Jasmine Gunn led all scorers with 23 points including 17 in the first half as the Pioneers clinched the 2010-11 SAC Regular Season Championship outright with the win on the Bears' home court … L-R did not have a player score in double figures but was led by sophomore guard Whitley Culler (Mount Airy, N.C.), who finished with nine points and six rebounds (both team-highs) … L-R fell behind by a 49-31 score in the second half on the road against Lincoln Memorial then rallied to take a 74-72 advantage but the Lady Railsplitters finished off the contest with a 9-3 run to take the win … Dayshalee Salaman led all scorers with 24 points while Sealey scored a team-high 19 points including 14 after halftime to help spark L-R's run despite the loss … Sealey, who is second in the league in scoring (18.3 ppg), is 16th on Lenoir-Rhyne's all-time scoring list with 1,034 points … Lenoir-Rhyne is seeded third in the 2011 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Tournament and will face sixth-seeded Carson-Newman (13-15) at home on Wednesday beginning at 7 p.m. … The Bears and Eagles split their season series this year with each team winning on the other's home court … Carson-Newman defeated Lenoir-Rhyne by a 70-61 score on January 17, 2011, in Hickory, N.C., and leads the all-time series with the Bears, 38-19 … L-R will be hosting a first-round conference tournament game for the third straight season.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL - LMU closed out their season this week, going 1-1 … On Wednesday, Lady Railsplitters came up short in a 97-91 overtime loss to Carson-Newman … After C-N took an early lead, LMU battled back and took a 33-27 lead with five minutes remaining in the half … A late run by Carson-Newman gave them the 43-35 lead at the half … The Lady Railsplitters would work to chip away at the Eagle lead and they finally broke through at the thirteen minute mark, where they tied the game at 53 apiece … The game remained tight going into the end of regulation. With five seconds remaining, Whitney Holmes gave the Lady Railsplitters a two-point lead … C-N drew a foul and hit both free throws to send the game to overtime, where they held on for the 97-91 win … The Lady Railsplitters were led by Dayshalee Salaman, who finished with a game-high 33 points … Whitney Holmes finished with 20 points in the game … Patrice Talley led with eight rebounds while Salaman had seven … LMU closed out their season Saturday with the 81-77 win over Lenoir-Rhyne … With the win, the Lady Railsplitters finished the season with 10-16 overall and 5-13 in the South Atlantic Conference … The Lady Railsplitters grabbed their first lead of the game, 20-19, with eight minutes remaining … LMU then went on a 20-10 run and concluded the half with a 40-29 advantage … This margin was deepened in the ensuing minutes of the second half, as the Lady Railsplitters jumped out to an 18-point lead by the 17:00 mark … The Bears were able to cut into this deficit, cutting the lead to five at the 8:22 mark … Lenoir-Rhyne pulled the game to a tie at various points, yet LMU was able to pull ahead in the final minutes and win the game, 81-77 … The Lady Railsplitters were led by Dayshalee Salaman, who finished with a game-high 24 points, 14 of those points coming in the first half of play … Whitney Holmes added 19 points for LMU … Lachelle Hyatt led Lincoln Memorial with seven boards.
MARS HILL - Mars Hill went 2-0 during the previous week against Catawba and Tusculum to close the regular season 17-9 overall, 10-8 in the SAC … Jessica Jones averaged 20 points and seven rebounds per game. Brittini Young averaged 19. Margaret Harvey and Tyler Carlson averaged 13.5 and 13.0, respectively … Against Catawba, Mars Hill got 27 points and eight assists from Young in a 90-75 win. Young canned 7-of-13 shots, including four three-pointers, and made all nine free throw attempts to lead the Lions. Harvey added 21 points, while Jones chipped in with 16 off the bench … Mars Hill hit nine three-pointers for the game and held a 38-30 edge on the boards … Against the Pioneers, Jones scored a career-high 24 points and pulled down nine rebounds. Young scored 11 points and currently sits in fourth place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,722. She was 1-3 from behind the arc and 6-6 from the free throw line to give her 513 made free throws, 219 made three-pointers and 559 attempted three-pointers, all school career records … Carlson added 19 points for Mars Hill. Taylor Deal had nine points and five rebounds … Mars Hill travels to Newberry for the quarterfinals of the Food Lion SAC Tournament on Wednesday. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. ET.
NEWBERRY - The Newberry women split the games in the final week of the regular season to finish with a 16-10 overall record, an 11-7 mark in SAC play and the fourth seed in this week's Food Lion SAC Tournament … In Wednesday's senior night game, the Wolves picked up a 58-41 victory over Brevard … Helen McKinney led the Wolves with 14 points followed by 10 points from Jessica Bearzatto … Leanne Watson had 9 points and 8 rebounds, while Briana Johnson had 7 rebounds and 2 points on senior night … On Saturday, the Wolves closed the regular season with a lackluster 79-60 loss at Catawba … McKinney scored 17 points and Leeara Creet netted 14, but offense was hard to come by as the Indians rolled … Newberry will host fifth-seeded Mars Hill in the first round of the SAC Tournament on Wednesday at 6 p.m. … The teams split the season series, with each team winning on the road.
TUSCULUM - The Pioneers (18-8, 14-4 SAC) wrapped up the outright SAC title and earned the top seed for the Food Lion SAC Tournament with a 53-43 win at Lenoir-Rhyne Wednesday night … Senior guard Jasmine Gunn (Nashville, Tenn.) reached the 20-point mark for the sixth straight game by scoring a game-high 23 points … Senior center Catherine Hintz (Hastings, Minn.) added 10 points and nine rebounds, and junior forward Linda Aughburns (Fayetteville, N.C.) tallied nine points and a career-high 17 rebounds … On Saturday, the Pioneers fell 80-66 at Mars Hill despite a career-high 32 points from Hintz along with a season-best 17 rebounds. Gunn added 17 points in 16 minutes despite sitting out the entire second half … The Pioneers won their third SAC regular-season title in the last four years. In the only year that Tusculum did not win the regular-season crown (2009-10), it went on to win the Food Lion SAC Tournament championship … Gunn played in her 121st career game against Mars Hill, breaking the Tusculum career record of 120 set by Ashli Oliver (2005-09). Gunn is tied for second all-time in SAC history in games played, and her next start will tie the conference record of 122 starts set by Anna Atkinson of Wingate (2005-09) … In addition to her career high in points against Mars Hill, Hintz set new career highs in field goals made (12) and attempted (24) as well as free throws made (8) and attempted (10) … The Pioneers will be seeking their fourth straight trip to the SAC championship game, a journey that begins Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at Pioneer Arena against eighth-seeded Anderson in a quarterfinal game.
WINGATE - The Wingate University women's basketball team enjoyed a 2-0 week as the Bulldogs claimed second place in the South Atlantic Conference regular season standings. On Saturday, Wingate freshman guard Janitsha Williams hit the game-winning hoop with 17 seconds left to give the visiting Bulldogs a 72-69 SAC road victory over Brevard College ... Williams tied her career-high with 24 points as Wingate improved to 17-9 overall and 12-6 in the SAC. The Statesville High School product recorded her first Bulldog double-double with a career-best 10 rebounds. Wingate junior forward Simone Rutledge had 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and one blocked shot for the visitors. Sophomore guard Sarah Wollett contributed 10 points, four rebounds and four assists ... Williams scored 15 of her 24 points after intermission. She hit eight-of-12 field goals Saturday, including seven-of-10 in the pivotal second half. Thanks to the efforts of Williams and her teammates, the Bulldog bench outscored the Tornado reserves 32-19 ... The second half was a battle, featuring eight ties and nine lead changes. Neither team led by more than six points the entire afternoon. Williams was fouled on the game-winning play, but she missed the free throw. Brevard missed two shots in the waning moments. The Tornados fouled Bulldog sophomore forward Tish Logan with six/tenths of a second on the clock. Logan made the first of two free throws to finish the day's scoring ... Wingate had 19 offensive rebounds, resulting in 21 second-chance points. Rutledge's seven rebounds were all collected on the offensive glass. Brevard managed only eight second-chance points on 12 offensive boards ... On Wednesday, the Bulldogs held on for a 51-46 victory over the Trojans of Anderson University in Cuddy Arena. Wollett had nine of her team-high 10 points in the second half, knocking down a huge three with 15 seconds remaining to give the 'Dogs a five-point lead. Junior guard Kurie Washington knocked down three trifectas in the first half, scoring nine points and grabbing four rebounds on the night. CC Brooks celebrated Senior Night with seven points, five rebounds and three assists ... The number two seed Bulldogs will host number seven seed Catawba College in a Food Lion SAC tournament first round contest on Wednesday, March 2 at 6 p.m. The Bulldogs have won six Food Lion SAC tournament titles. Wingate and Catawba split the regular season series. Catawba earned a hard-fought 58-56 victory Jan. 5 in Salisbury. On Feb. 2, Brooks hit two free throws with 1.3 seconds remaining to lift host Wingate to a thrilling 60-58 triumph over Catawba in Cuddy Arena.