Feb. 17, 2003

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina junior Christy Blackwell hit two free throws with nine seconds on the clock to give the Lady Catamounts their second lead of the game and a 63-62 victory over the College of Charleston Monday night in the Ramsey Center. The win gives WCU 18 for the season, the first time the program has recorded as many wins since becoming a Division I program in 1981. The victory also makes one more win than the program had all last year.

"Getting our 18th win is a credit to the kids who've come here," said WCU head coach Beth Dunkenberger. "They came here to build a championship program and win a SoCon championship. They've worked extremely hard to build this basketball team. With the Cats, it's not about any individual; it's about playing team basketball."

Tiffany Hamm opened up scoring in the game, giving Western a 2-0 lead on a lay-up, but the Cougars quickly tied the score on a jumper by Wilma Simpson, who leads Charleston with 14.6 points per game. The College of Charleston would not let the Cats regain the lead for the remainder of the game, although Western Carolina never let Charleston get ahead by more than seven points in the first half. WCU closed the gap to four points as Yoneko Allen hit a jumper to make the score 37-33 in favor of the Cougars at the half.

Jennifer Gardner tied the game at 37-37 with 17:25 on the clock and the scored was again knotted at 42 apiece at the 13:14 mark on a two-point play by freshman Kala Greene. However, the Cougars rallied with a 8-0 run to make the score 50-42, the team's largest lead of the game. Janetta Heggins hit two of her six made free throws to cut Charleston's lead to two at 52-50, but Patrice Bryant answered with a lay-up that sent the Cougars back on a roll.

Free throws were the Catamounts' answer down the stretch as Hamm hit two and Blackwell hit 3-of-4, including two with nine seconds left in the game to give the Cats the lead and the eventual 63-62 win after a charge was called on C of C's Shanna Mickens with 0.4 seconds in the game to turn the ball over.

"Charleston played very well tonight," Dunkenberger said. "We had a great defensive effort down the stretch, though. We didn't have a great night shooting, but we made our free throws, we took care of the ball and played good team defense."

Western Carolina (18-6, 11-4) was led by Heggins with a game-high 14 points and eight rebounds, adding a career-high eight steals in the game. Hamm contributed 13 points and three rebounds, while Gardner added 12 points and seven boards. While WCU outrebounded Charleston, 33-31, the Cats allowed the Cougars to shoot 53.1 percent from the field, which was the first time this season any opponent has shot over 50 percent against Western.

The College of Charleston (9-15, 4-11) was led by Tiffany Wilson with 12 points, while Simpson recorded 10, adding six rebounds, three assists and a game-high three blocks. The Cougars gave up the ball 19 times in the loss to Western's 14 turnovers.

The Lady Cats travel to UNC Greensboro for a 3:00 pm tip-off against the Spartans this Saturday, Feb. 22, before heading back home to finish out the season against Appalachian State (Feb. 25) and Furman (Mar. 1) in the RAC.