Feb. 25, 2008

Box Score

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Senior guard Ashley Pellom drained a pair of free throws with 4.5 seconds left in the game, to help Western Carolina women's basketball escape with a 56-51 win and skirt College of Charleston's upset bid Monday in John Kreese Arena. The Lady Catamounts improve to 23-6 overall and 15-2 in the Southern Conference while College of Charleston falls to 12-14 and 8-8 in the SoCon.

With Chattanooga's 79-60 win over Georgia Southern, the Mocs lock in the Southern Conference regular season title and the No. 1 seed. Western Carolina's win over the Cougars secures a No. 2 seed for the Lady Catamounts in the SoCon Tournament.

Western Carolina struggled for points for most of the second half. Leading by four after the first 20 minutes, the Lady Catamounts charged out of the gate in the second half, building a 12-point lead thanks to a 10-2 run in the first three and a half minutes.

College of Charleston, which was celebrating senior night, wouldn't go away and trimmed the lead to seven, 43-36, thanks to a three-pointer by senior Jill Furstenburg. The score would remain 43-36 for five minutes before someone scored. Western Carolina's Jessika Johnson broke the drought by both teams when she hit a lay-up and was fouled with 7:29 remaining. After Johnson hit the bonus she gave the Lady Cats a 10-point lead again, 46-36.

Twice Pellom helped Western Carolina tie its largest lead of the game, 12. With 2:50 remaining she pushed the lead up to 12 for a second time as Western Carolina led 54-42.

It was then College of Charleston began to slowly and methodically chip away at the lead. The Cougars went on a 9-0 run to turn a comfortable Lady Catamount lead into a nail-biter as WCU clung to a three point advantage, 54-51, with under a minute to play.

Beginning with 44 seconds remaining in the game, Western Carolina was fouled twice and placed at the free throw line. Monique Dawson and Heather Swayne each missed the front end of a one-and-and and give the Cougars a chance to tie the game. College of Charleston twice missed three-point attempts between the missed free throws and after the last miss, Pellom got the rebound and was fouled putting her at the line to close the game out with her pair of free throws.

Western Carolina shot 34.9 percent from the field and hit just one three-pointer, a trey by Lauren Powell in the first half, and had 20 turnovers. The Lady Cats did have six blocks with two of them credited to Powell.

Junior Forward Kendra Eaton led the Lady Cats with 12 points and also added five rebounds. Pellom added 11 points and Chevon Keith led the team with eight rebounds.

The Lady Catamounts extend their winning streak to nine and have won their last three road games. The club is a also a perfect 9-0 on games played on a Monday and are 8-0 in the month of February which breaks the school record for wins in the month.

Western Carolina concludes the regular season on Thursday when the Lady Catamounts travel to Chattanooga to take on the Mocs at 7 p.m. Chattanooga defeated Western Carolina 86-81 on December 20.