Feb. 2, 2008

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina women's basketball got a glimpse of the future; as its pair of freshman scored in double figures in the Lady Catamounts' 80-57 victory over Davidson (13-8, 7-3 SoCon) Saturday in the Ramsey Center. Freshman Kendra Carroll poured in a season-high 10 points while fellow freshman Emily Clarke added 12. The win against Davidson snapped the Wildcats' five-game winning streak.

After a pair of poor shooting performances, Western Carolina left little doubt in its scoring prowess in the game with Davidson. This was the same Davidson team Western Carolina narrowly defeated, 71-67, at Davidson. Before the game, the two clubs along with Georgia Southern were in a three-way tie for second place with equal records of 7-2. With the Lady Catamounts win over the Wildcats, WCU improves to 16-6 and 8-2 in Southern Conference play and is in a tie for second with Georgia Southern.

The game began the same as the previous two, with senior forward Jessika Johnson getting the Lady Cats on the scoreboard with a bucket. However, that is where the similarities ended, with Western Carolina basically shooting the lights out in the first half. Western Carolina shot 51.3 percent from the field, in the first 20 minutes, and it took Davidson almost five minutes into the game to pull down a defensive rebound when Danielle Hemerka got a defensive rebound off a missed jumper by Ashley Pellom at the 16:15 minute mark.

Western Carolina led by 18 points at halftime, 43-25. Davidson couldn't find much success in the second half either. The Wildcats did trim the Lady Cats' lead to 15 with 15:31 left in the game when Julia Paquette hit a lay-up but Pellom quickly answered with a three-pointer. Western Carolina led by as much as 30 points in the second half.

The Lady Catamounts ended the game shooting 46.5 percent from the field and held Davidson to 34.5 percent. Western Carolina got 36 of its points in the paint, 24 points off Davidson turnovers and notched 23 points off second chance baskets. The most notable stat from Davidson's column was the fact that the Wildcats didn't get one second chance point. Also, Western Carolina had its bench account for 48 of its 80 points in the contest. The Lady Cats also had 51 rebounds in the game, the second straight game the team has pulled down 50 or more rebounds.

Pellom was the only other player to score in double figures leading both clubs with 14. For the seventh time in the last eight games everyone played and scored for Western Carolina. Senior Chevon Keith had 10 rebounds in the game, the third straight game she has had double figure rebounds. Johnson tied her career-high with three blocks and Heather Swayne and Kristen Feemster each had two blocks. Western Carolina ended the game with nine team blocks, the second-most this season.

Hidden amongst the high-quality play by the Lady Catamounts was the return of Kendra Eaton to the Western Carolina line-up. The junior forward sat out the game with College Charleston on January 28 due to an injury. She had seven points and seven rebounds in her return against Davidson.

Western Carolina returns to action Monday hosting Appalachian State. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. in the Ramsey Center. It will be the fourth consecutive double-header the Lady Catamounts will participate in this season.

HEAD COACH Kellie Harper QUOTES:

"Davidson is a good basketball team. Early in the game shots didn't fall their way and they did for us giving us the lead and a lot of confidence. If you asked me before the game I wouldn't have believed we would have beat Davidson by the margin we did but our players were very motivated and played a tremendous basketball game. I am not sure what the source of motivation was. This week of practice wasn't anything stellar, but right before the game as we were walking on the court, I could tell there was a different energy level about them. I had a lot of confidence at that point."