Jan. 29, 2005

Final Stats

Charleston, S.C. - Senior forward Jennifer Gardner scored 16 of her game-high 25 points in the second half to lead four Lady Catamounts in double figures as Western Carolina completed the seasonal sweep of the College of Charleston with a 69-59 win on Saturday afternoon at the John Kresse Arena.

The win was Western's seventh-in-a-row over the Cougars and improved the Lady Cat's record to 9-11, 5-8 in the Southern Conference. The College of Charleston (7-11, 4-8 SoCon) remains winless over Western Carolina at home since moving into the Kresse Arena.

In addition to her 25 points, Gardner added 18 rebounds in the win, one-shy of tying her career high for her sixth double-double of the season. Joining her in double figures were senior counterparts Shaketia Barnes with 11, Sigita Maleraite and Lori Tanner each with 10 apiece as Maleraite hit three of her five 3-point attempts. Freshman guard Ashley Pellom just missed double digits scoring nine and dishing out three assists in the victory.

Western trailed on four occasions early in the first half as the game see-sawed back-and-forth over the opening 10 minutes. After taking a five-point advantage at 9-4, CofC rallied to take its final lead of the game by one at 12-11 at the 11:49 mark of the half.

But the Lady Catamounts retaliated, holding the Cougars scoreless over the next five minutes as part of a 20-0 run that saw Western build its largest lead of the first half, a 19-point, 31-12 lead. During the spurt, Charleston missed six shots and committed six turnovers.

Yet, the Cougars would not go quietly into the locker room as they put together a run of their own, a 14-2 swing that cut the Lady Catamount lead to seven, 33-26, but Western was able to nurse its advantage back to 10, 37-27, at halftime.

Western opened the second half with an 11-0 surge to push the lead back to 21 a mere four minutes into the final stanza. Again, the College of Charleston answered, though, this time holding the Lady Cats scoreless over a three-minute span while it rattled off a 15-0 run to pull within six with 13 minutes left in regulation. But that was as close as the Cougars could get as WCU's lead would never drop below seven over the final ten minutes.

The College was led by guard Erica Irick with 16 points before fouling out. Cougars' leading scorer Patrice Bryant was held to 10 on 3-of-8 shooting, with junior guard Marketta Talley equaling Bryant's output with 10 in the losing effort.

After losing the battle of the boards at Davidson last Tuesday, Western dominated the glass versus Charleston, out rebounding the Cougars 53-30. The Lady Cats defense also held CofC to 17-percent from 3-point range on 4-of-23 shooting from behind the arc.

Western will take the week off before traveling to Chattanooga on Saturday, February 5 for a rematch of last year's Southern Conference championship game. The game is slated for a 7:00 pm start and will be televised by C-SET.