Feb. 24, 2007

Final Stats |  SoCon Regular Season Championship  

Cullowhee, N.C. - Five Lady Catamounts scored in double figures as Western Carolina held off a feverish UNC Greensboro rally over the final two minutes on Saturday afternoon to claim its first-ever Southern Conference regular season championship, downing the Spartans, 73-67, at the Ramsey Center.

The win tied a WCU school-record for victories in a single-season with 21, tying the 2002-03 and 1977-78 Lady Catamounts. Also, Western's 15 wins in conference play set a school benchmark, eclipsing the 14 victories from the '02-03 season.

By virtue of its 68-49 home win over Wofford, the Chattanooga Lady Mocs will share WCU's regular season crown. However, with its head-to-head seasonal sweep of UTC, the Lady Catamounts will enter next week's SoCon tournament as the top seed and will play the second game on the tournament's second day (Wednesday, Feb. 28).

Although it was Senior Day for WCU's Erin May and Lynsie Lamitie, it was the junior class which stole the show to send the seniors out as champions. WCU's four, three-year players combined for 49 points, 24 rebounds, eight assists and all 11 of Western's steals in the game.

Chevon Keith led the way, finishing with 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting and 10 rebounds to post her fifth double-double of the season. Her classmate, Monique Dawson scored eight (8-of-12) of her 14 points from the free throw line and matched her career-high with six assists. Ashley Pellom and Jessika Johnson each tallied 10 points apiece with Pellom adding five rebounds and a career-best five steals.

Rounding out Western's double-digit scorers was sophomore Brooke Johnson, who just missed a double-double with 10 points, half of which came from the free throw line, and eight boards. The Seymour, Tenn., native added two blocked shots to give her 39 for the season, moving her one shy of tying for fifth on WCU's single-season chart.

After shooting 52-percent in the opening 20 minutes but still only managing to lead by five at intermission, Western pulled ahead by nine, 42-33, early in the second half. However, the Lady Catamounts were outscored 16-to-6 over an eight minute span as the Spartans took their only lead of the second stanza, 49-48, at 11:17. Western responded with a 15-to-5 spurt of its own, capped by a 3-pointer by Keith to grab its largest lead of the game, 11 points at 64-53 margin with just under five and a half to play.

The scoreboard remained the same for over two minutes of back-and-forth action before the Spartans (20-8, 13-5 SoCon) began a feverish rally. Junior Kristen Boone, who finished with a game-high 25 points, and senior Jasmine Byrd combined for UNCG's final 14 points, including three free throws and three 3-pointers to slice the deficit as low as two, 66-64, following a Boone trey with 52 seconds to play. After consecutive free throws by Pellom, Byrd buried her second 3-pointer of the flurry to again pull UNCG to within a pair, 69-67.However, that was the last time the Spartans would score as WCU iced the game from the charity stripe.

All told, Western connected on 9-of-10 free throw attempts inside the final minute to hold on for the victory and earn the championship.

Boone shot 8-of-14 from the field, including a 3-for-6 showing from beyond the 3-point arc, while Byrd finished with 19 points on five treys before fouling out inside the final minute. Senior Kaleah Latham finished with seven points and a team-best seven boards.

Western managed to shoot 44.9-percent from the field for the game and out rebounded UNCG by a dozen, 45-33, to overcome a season-high 28 turnovers. As the top seed in next week's SoCon Tournament, Western will face the winner of the No. 8 versus No. 9 seed at approximately Noon on Wednesday. Currently the College of Charleston and Furman are battling to see which team will be the designated home team as the higher seed, but both are locked into that night cap game of the tournament's opening day, playing at approximately 9:00 pm on Tuesday.