Dec. 30, 2002

Final Stats

DAVIDSON, N.C. - After 11 ties and 19 lead changes, a Tiffany Hamm three pointer with two minutes left gave Western Carolina the lead for good as the Catamounts defeated Davidson in women's basketball Monday evening in Belk Arena, 76-68. Western improves to 8-2 overall and 1-0 in the Southern Conference with the victory while the host Wildcats fall to 4-5 and 0-1.

With the score knotted at 61 and 4:02 remaining in the second half, Melissa Ervin hit a trifecta to put Western Carolina up, 64-61. A layup followed by a fall-away baseline jumper by Bethany Schott gave the Wildcats a 65-64 advantage at the 2:19 mark. Hamm then responded with her only three pointer on the evening, pushing the Catamounts ahead, 67-65.

Ashley Hallsted tried to hit a three of her own to put Davidson back on top, but the attempt grazed the front of the iron. From there, Western's Jennifer Gardner converted an old-fashioned three-point play to stretch the WCU lead to five, 70-65, with 1:01 left. Western Carolina converted all six free throw attempts down the stretch to seal the victory.

"This was a great conference win for us on the road," said WCU head coach Beth Dunkenberger. "Davidson always plays hard, but we were able to match their intensity. We also showed more patience and were able to control the boards in the second half, which was key."

In the first half, both teams struggled from the floor early on as the visiting Catamounts held a slim 2-0 lead over five minutes into the contest. Western was able to open up a five-point cushion on two occasions in the first stanza, but Davidson rallied to take a 35-33 lead into the break thanks to a three pointer by Courtney Laird in the final minute of the period.

Hamm paced Western Carolina and led all scorers with 21 points, including 15 in the second half. Gardner added 13 on 5-of-6 shooting from the floor and Yoneko Allen posted 10. As a team, the Catamounts were 12-for-13 from the charity stripe. Although no Western player recorded double figure rebounds, the Catamounts outrebounded the Wildcats, 34-32 in the game.

Also noteable, junior Christy Blackwell posted five assists for the night to give her 221 in her career, which bumps her into seventh place on WCU's all-time list. Ki-Ki Glass led the team with six assists. The sophomore needs just 36 more to break into the WCU record book for career assists.

Four players were in double figures for Davidson. Schott had 17 points while Emily Callahan netted a career-high 15 points. Laird chipped in with a double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds) while Hallsted added 14 points.

Western Carolina travels to Wofford on Saturday, Jan. 4, to face the Terriers at 7 p.m. and Davidson returns to action on Thursday, Jan. 2, at Campbell. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. as well.

Said Dunkenberger about the upcoming Wofford match, "We haven't won at Wofford in two years. We need to practice hard the next couple of days so that we're able to go down there and take care of business."