Jan. 5, 2005

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - Led by a trio of seniors, four Lady Catamounts reached double figures as Western Carolina rebounded to defeat the College of Charleston, 71-58 Wednesday night in Southern Conference action at the Ramsey Center.

The Lady Cats improve to 7-6 overall, 3-3 in the Southern Conference on the strength of the sixth-consecutive victory over the College of Charleston in the all-time series. The Cougars (4-5, 1-3 SoCon) dropped their second-straight for the first-time this season.

Western was led by senior forward Lori Tanner with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the field. Tanner's backcourt classmate Shaketia Barnes, who was reinserted into the starting lineup after coming off the bench the past three games, scored 12 points. She was followed by senior Jennifer Gardner with 10 points and nine rebounds, missing a double-double by one board. Freshman Jessika Johnson poured in 10 points and four rebounds in her third career start.

For the second-consecutive game, every Lady Cat that tallied minutes scored points.

Western took control of the see-saw first half by holding the Cougars scoreless during a 12-0 run over three minutes. After the dust had settled, WCU's slim two-point edge at 23-21 had grown to its largest of the first stanza, a 14-point, 35-21 advantage. The Lady Cats would nurse the double-digit cushion over the closing moments of half to lead by 10, 37-27, at the break.

In the second, the Cougars battled back, whittling Western's lead to 10, but the College could not get it to single digits, as Erica Nesmith missed a bonus free throw at the 12:30 mark that would have cut the deficit to nine. The Lady Catamount responded with a 9-0 spurt to take their largest lead of the night, 60-41.

Western's lead never dropped below 13 the final nine minutes of regulation, which included the tally at the final horn.

The Cougars were led by senior Patrice Bryant with 10 points on 5-of-17 shooting. Junior Erica Irick just missed double figures finishing with nine points and three of CofC's 10 steals on the night.

Western Carolina returns to action this Saturday, January 8, as it hosts the Chattanooga Lady Mocs in a rematch of last year's Southern Conference Championship game. Tip-off is slated for 5:00 pm for "Pack the RAC" night in Cullowhee, with admission free to the public courtesy of Verizon Wireless. The College of Charleston continues its seven-game road swing by traveling to Elon on Saturday afternoon.