Jan. 13, 2001

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - The Georgia Southern Eagles connected on five of their final six free throw attempts to stop the Western Carolina comeback, dropping the home-standing Lady Catamounts 76-71 Saturday night in the Ramsey Center.

The loss, WCU's fourth straight, drops the Lady Cats to 7-8 overall, 1-5 in Southern Conference action. Georgia Southern improved to 10-5 overall, 4-2 in conference play.

Western Carolina put three in double figure scoring led by senior forward April Fleck with 21 points. The Lilburn, Ga., native also made a team-high four steals and pulled down seven boards. Freshmen Tiffany Hamm and Janetta Heggins were the other two Lady Cats in double digits, finishing with 15 and 14, respectively. Heggins was 8-of-10 from the floor.

The Lady Cats took an early lead, but fell behind in the first half by as many as 11 on two separate occasions. Georgia Southern led by seven, 38-31, at the halftime break.

The second half swayed back and forth with WCU making runs to cut the Eagle advantage to one at the 18:15 and 10:15 marks of the second stanza. At the 9:46 mark, WCU took the lead for the first time since early in the first half.

The Lady Cats went up by as many as seven with six and a half to play before GSU made their run. The Eagles took a four-point advantage with under a minute to play and made their free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.

Georgia Southern was led by junior Danna Simpson with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. Two other Eagles reached double digits with seniors Lauren Langley and Sharon Mitchell scoring 14 and 11, respectively.

The Lady Catamounts did manage to out rebound Georgia Southern, hitting the glass for a 31-23 rebounding margin.

Western Carolina starts a three-game road stretch Monday night, January 16 as they travel to Johnson City, Tennessee to take on the Buccaneers of East Tennessee State. The game is slated for 7:00 pm. The road trip includes trips to the College of Charleston (January 20) and Appalachian State (January 23). The Lady Cats are 6-2 on the road this season.