Box Score Jan. 22, 2007
Final Stats
Cullowhee, N.C. -
Western Carolina erased a sluggish start with a 16-to-2 first half spurt, then held the College of Charleston scoreless for the first nine minutes of the second as a part of a 23-to-4 run to pull away for its fifth-straight win, 64-52, over the College of Charleston Monday afternoon in front of a rambunctious Education Day crowd. WCU has now defeated the Cougars in nine of the last 10 meetings in the series.
Western (13-7, 7-2 SoCon) also claimed the 500th victory in program's 42-year history with the win.
Junior Ashley Pellom was the lone Lady Catamount in double figures on the afternoon, scoring 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field and connecting on 5-of-6 free throw attempts. The Wilmington, N.C., native also dished out six assists to give her 220 for her career which moved her into ninth-place on WCU's career assists chart, bypassing Marlena Surratt (1991-93). Her classmate, Monique Dawson, just missed double-digits with nine points, while three - Brooke Johnson, Chevon Keith and Lauren Powell - finished with eight points apiece.
Keith paced WCU with eight boards, adding three steals, while Brooke Johnson blocked two shots to move into a tie for eight-place on Western's single-season blocked shots list. She eclipsed both Ginger Eichhorn (1983) and Pam Daniels (1985) and now with 26 blocks on the season stands tied with Charlene Penland (1988-89). Junior Jessika Johnson rounded out Western's top performers, adding seven points and six boards in the win.
With Western slow out of the gates, Charleston raced out to an early seven-point lead, 12-5, just five minutes into the game. The Cougars pushed the advantage into double figures, taking their largest lead of the game at 13 on two separate occasions by both a 22-9 and a 24-11 count with the latter occurring at the 9:50 mark. During that stretch, the Lady Catamounts missed nine shots as a part of 5-for-14 shooting and turned the ball over eight times.
However, Western found its footing over the next eight minutes, outscoring the Cougars 16-to-2 to erase the 13-point deficit and grab its first lead of the game, 27-26. Charleston managed back-to-back baskets, including a 3-pointer, to surge back out by four and appeared to have stemmed momentum, but Kendra Eaton sank a pair of free throws and Pellom made an athletic move to find Jessika Johnson in the paint for a lay-up as the buzzer sounded to make it a one-point, 32-31, Cougar lead at intermission.
Out of the halftime locker room, Western scored 12 unanswered points as a part of a 23-to-4 run to take an 18 point lead with 7:51 remaining in the contest. The Cougars were without a field goal for the first nine minutes of the final frame, missing all seven of their field goal attempts during that stretch and committing 10 turnovers. Over the final seven minutes, Charleston could only manage to trim WCU's cushion to 12 on three separate occasions, including a lay-up inside the final 10 seconds which provided the final margin of victory.
For the College of Charleston (9-10, 5-4 SoCon), sophomore Jade Hughes finished with a team-high 12 points as the only Cougar in double figures. The Spartanburg, S.C., native also finished with four assists and four steals. Melissa Chambers, Sarah Moye, and Ashley Scott each finished with eight points with both Moye and Chambers boarding eight misses in the loss.
Charleston managed to out rebound Western Carolina, which led the SoCon in rebounding margin coming into the game, 43-to-38, with the Cougars grabbing 21 offensive boards. After committing 12 first half turnovers, Western only gave it away four times over the final 20 minutes. Conversely, CofC had nine first half turnovers and 12 in the second, 10 of which came during WCU's decisive run.
Western Carolina opens the second half of its conference season this Saturday as a part of its current three-game home stand. WCU hosts the Wofford Terriers at 4:00 pm in the Ramsey Center. The Lady Cats downed Wofford, 76-67, in Spartanburg back on Dec. 17.
