Nov. 18, 2000

Box Score

Rock Hill, SC - Western Carolina ruined Cheryl Nix's head coaching debut with the Winthrop Lady Eagles basketball program as the Catamounts breezed to a 67-43 victory Saturday evening in the season opener for both teams.

Western Carolina took control of the game in the final minutes of the first half as the Catamounts outscored Winthrop 6-0 in just over a minute to take a 28-19 lead at intermission. Behind the play of Laura Echols and Janetta Heggins, the Catamounts quickly built the lead to 20 at 41-21 in the first 6:36 of the second half and led by as many as 30 (51-21) with 8:33 left in the game. Echols, the game's leading scorer with 22 points, and Heggins, who finished with 12, combined for 15 of Western Carolina's points during that 23-2 run.

Western Carolina, which now has won 10-of-11 meetings against Winthrop, forced the Lady Eagles into a cold shooting night and outrebounded the host team by 19 (49-30) as Echols cleaned the glass for 12 boards. Winthrop shot just 29 percent from the floor (16-55) while the Catamounts were much better at 41 percent (24-58).

Winthrop was led in scoring and rebounding by Meredith Smith with 14 points and 12 rebounds to tie Echols for game honors.

Western Carolina will open the Southern Conference season against Furman, Tuesday, November 21 at 6:00 pm. The men's team will follow with Lee University at 8:00 pm.