March 3, 2004
Final Stats
Charleston, S.C. - Sixth-seeded Western Carolina topped Wofford 60-38 in the first round of the 2004 Southern Conference Women's Basketball Championships at McAlister Field House on the The Citadel campus. The win marked the Lady Catamounts' first tournament victory in five years. WCU improves to 12-16 while Wofford drops to 0-28.
The two teams battled in the first half with Wofford taking the early lead by five at the 11:44 mark in the first half before Western Carolina went on a 9-0 run and took the lead to as many as 14. The Catamounts took a 31-17 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Western kept a secure lead throughout the second half, taking the margin to as many as 24. Wofford cut the lead to 10 with 5:35 left but could not close in any further.
Seniors Tiffany Hamm and Yoneko Allen led the Catamounts with 13 points apiece while freshman Erin May had a team-high seven rebounds. Senior Christy Blackwell led the field with four assists, which moved her into second place on WCU's all-time list past Sheila Barker (1977-80), now with 388 career assists.
Wofford was led by Ricaye Harris with 11 points as the only Terrier to score in double figures, while Jenny Weurding added six rebounds. The Catamounts held a slight 34-33 edge on the boards, but forced 24 Wofford turnovers, committing 18 themselves.
The Catamounts will take on #3 Davidson on Thursday evening, 30 minutes after the conclusion of the College of Charleston/Furman match-up which will tip-off at 5:00 pm.
Additionally, the SoCon Media Poll was released and Hamm received her second straight first team honor, while junior Jennifer Gardner was selected to the media second team for the second consecutive year.
Quotes from WCU head coach Beth Dunkenberger:
"When it comes to the tournament, defense wins games, and we did a good job of clogging up the paint tonight. Now that we've gotten over first game jitters, we're ready to move on."
Quotes from Yoneko Allen
"We knew Wofford was going to play hard, but we were ready for them."
Quotes from Ki-Ki Glass:
"We're ready for Davidson now. The fact that they beat us last year is our motivation right now."
Quotes from Wofford head coach Samantha Young
"We typically play 24-to-26 minutes of good, competitive basketball and to the level where we can compete with people in our league. When you start four freshmen, and you depend on them to make shots, you have slippage. That's what we had tonight.
"I feel like we have gotten better and I feel like we played hard, but we have stretches where we just don't execute. When we cut it to 10, it shows we didn't give up. The kids kept playing hard when we were down 15 or 16 with six or seven minutes to go and they still hung in there. If we would have made some shots in the first half, then things could have been more under control.
"This season has been challenging - both for myself and the team. But these kids have been really positive and believe they are going to do good things. But, their confidence is a little on the short side just because we haven't won that first game."
