Feb. 25, 2006

Final Stats

Greensboro, N.C. - Much like the first meeting between the Lady Catamounts and Spartans, Western Carolina did not score a field goal over the final two minutes of regulation while UNC Greensboro connected on 7-of-8 free throw attempts to win 72-57, snapping WCU's three-game wining streak Saturday afternoon at Fleming Gymnasium.

Despite ending the regular season with a defeat, Western still earned the fifth seed - and a first round bye - in next week's Southern Conference Women's Basketball Championships by virtue of Georgia Southern's 65-61 win over the College of Charleston and Elon's 61-53 loss to Appalachian State.

The Lady Catamounts will play the first game on Friday, March 3 at 11:00 am at the McAlister Field House on the campus of The Citadel. WCU's first round opponent is yet to be determined, but has been narrowed down to two - the Davidson Wildcats or ASU Mountaineers - as the No. 4 seed. A Davidson win on Sunday at home at (3:00 pm tip-off) versus Furman would move the Wildcats into a tie for second with UNC Greensboro, relegating ASU to fourth. UNCG would win the tiebreaker with Davidson because it split with ASU while Davidson was swept by the Mountaineers. A Davidson loss would create a two-way tie for third between it and ASU, which the Mountaineers would win in head-to-head fashion because of their seasonal sweep leaving ASU third and Davidson fourth. In the first meeting this year between Davidson and Furman, the Lady Paladins beat the Wildcats, 65-61, in Greenville, S.C.

Western (8-19, 8-10 SoCon) was led by 15 points from freshman Teshymia Tillman, who was playing in front of numerous of her hometown fans from nearby High Point. Sophomores Chevon Keith and Monique Dawson each scored nine, while leading scorer, freshman Lauren Powell, scored seven in the loss. Dawson tied a career-high with two blocked shots and junior Erin May led WCU with five rebounds.

Never trailing in the first half, UNC Greensboro inched out to a seven-point lead, 19-12, midway through the opening stanza. The Lady Catamounts were able to slice the margin to three on four separate occasions, and even pull to within two twice, but could never pull even nor ahead, trailing at intermission by four, 32-28.

A minute into the second half, Western tied the game up for the first time since early in the first half, using back-to-back buckets from Powell and Tillman to knot things at 32-all. Thirty seconds later, Tillman gave Western its first lead of the contest, completing an old fashion three-point play to give the Lady Cats the one-point, 35-34, lead. WCU would take its largest lead of the game at the 17:22 mark, going up four, 40-36.

The Spartans battled back, however, and the two teams swapped the lead back-and-forth until UNC Greensboro took the lead for good at the 6:51 mark, 50-49. Up by two, 55-53 with 4:38 remaining in the game, UNCG outscored Western 17-to-4 to close out the game and secure the victory. The Lady Catamounts only managed one field goal by Keith and two Dawson free throws during the stretch run.

UNCG (16-11, 12-6 SoCon) was led by sophomore Kristen Boone, who tied her career high of 25 points and finished with her second career double-double adding 10 rebounds. Boone, who entered the game ranked second in the nation averaging four steals per game, only swiped two in the win. KaLeah Latham added 11 points for the Spartans, while Irene Otamiri chipped in 10 points and a game-high five steals.

Western was beaten on the boards for the first time in the last six games as the Spartans out rebounded the Lady Catamounts, 45-to-30, including a 15-to-6 edge on the offensive glass. The Lady Catamounts did shoot a seasonal best from the free throw line, nailing 9-of-10 for 90-percent from the charity stripe.

Final seedings and pairings for the 2006 Southern Conference Women's Basketball Championships will be released on Sunday afternoon.