Feb. 10, 2007

Final Stats

Cullowhee, N.C. - Western Carolina put four players in double figures, led by a career-high tying 16 points from junior Chevon Keith as the Lady Catamounts completed its first-ever seasonal sweep of the Chattanooga Lady Mocs, 75-66, Saturday afternoon in the Ramsey Center. Western overcame being held scoreless from the field the final 6:11 of the second half to capture its 10th-straight victory and assume sole possession of first place in the Southern Conference standings.

WCU's win, which snapped Chattanooga's seven-game winning streak, also marks the first time that UTC was swept by a SoCon team in the regular season since Furman did it in the 2001-02 season. Western's 10-consecutive wins are the most in a row since 1982-83, its first year in the Southern Conference.  Also, the 2,178 fans in attendance at Saturday's game were the most to witness a Lady Catamount game in school history, surpassing the previous high of 1,979 set earlier this season against Auburn.

Fans can watch the tape-delayed broadcast on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast (CSS) on Sunday afternoon at 6:30 pm (check local listings).

Western (18-7, 12-2 SoCon) tallied its final field goal on a runner by Keith at the 6:39 mark, and scored its final two points on a pair of free throws by junior Monique Dawson with 6:11 remaining in the contest. Despite the scoreless drought, which saw the Lady Cats shoot 0-for-10, WCU stiffened on the defensive end, limiting Chattanooga to just 1-for-9 from the field and only allowed seven points from the free throw line.

Even with the poor shooting late in the game, the Lady Catamounts still managed to shoot 42.3-percent (30-of-71) from the field, with a 7-for-16 (43.8%) showing from beyond the 3-point arc. Chattanooga answered with a 40.3-percent (27-of-67) field goal percentage for the afternoon, but struggled from long range at just 3-for-25 (12.0%). The three made treys tied a season-low for UTC, with the other occasion also coming against Western earlier this season.

In addition to her team-high 16 points, Keith added six rebounds, five steals and three assists. Her classmate, Ashley Pellom, added a dozen points including doubling her made 3-pointers on the season with two in the contest (four on the year). Pellom added with five boards, three steals and a pair of assists, while a third junior, Monique Dawson, added 11 points with a career-high five assists. Sophomore Lauren Powell chipped in 10 points, including a trey, with junior Jessika Johnson and senior Lynsie Lamitie both just missing double figures with eight apiece.

Sophomore Kendra Eaton was tied with Keith for WCU's high rebounder with six, adding a career-best three blocked shots in the win.

Western fell behind quickly, 5-0, but managed to answer right back with a trey from Lamitie and a Powell lay-up to knot the game for the first of seven times in the opening 20 minutes. Tied at 15, UTC used a 9-0 spurt to take its largest lead of the game at nine, 24-15, at the 9:47 mark of the first half. The Lady Catamounts chipped away at the deficit with a 12-to-2 run, and eventually forced three additional tie scores before grabbing the lead for what would prove to be for good on a 3-pointer by Pellom with 3:29 remaining before intermission.

WCU managed to build its lead to as many as six over the final three and a half minutes, taking a five-point, 40-35, advantage into the locker room.

Chattanooga (18-7, 11-3 SoCon) cut Western's lead to three, 46-43, just over two minutes into the second half, but a 13-to-6 spurt by the Lady Catamounts stretched out to 14, 63-49, midway through the final stanza. UTC trimmed the deficit back down to nine a minute and a half later, but Western kept the pressure on, building its advantage to a game-high 16 points on two occasions, and then prevented the Lady Mocs from making a comeback on the defensive end despite struggling on offense.

Chattanooga junior Alex Anderson was the only Lady Moc player in double-figures, finishing with 29 points, surpassing 1,000-point plateau for her career. She added 14 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season, matching her season-high with four blocked shots. Kristen Spann had nine points in the loss, adding six boards, while Brooke Hand, with a pair of first half 3-pointers, had eight points.

Chattanooga outscored Western Carolina in the paint 44-32, but the Lady Catamounts converted 17 UTC miscues into 18 points. The Lady Mocs out rebounded WCU 47-38 and converted 16 offensive rebounds into 16 points.

The Lady Catamounts will again be the first half of a WCU basketball double-header this Monday (Feb. 12) night. Western will host Georgia Southern at 5:00 pm, with the men entertaining Chattanooga in the night cap approximately 30 minutes after the women's game. Both games will be broadcast by the Catamount Sports Network and can be heard in Western North Carolina on WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 in Cullowhee or on-line at www.WWCUFM.com.