Box Score March 9, 2008
Box Score | 
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. - Western Carolina women's basketball (25-7) advanced to the Southern Conference finals for the second straight year, and fourth in the last five, with a 72-66 victory over Elon (12-20) Sunday in the North Charleston Coliseum.
The 25th win of the season is a school record for the Lady Catamounts, besting the 24 victories set in 2006-07. Head Coach Kellie Harper coached squads have made it to the finals three of her four years at the helm, and won the tournament in 2004-05.
Elon didn't make the path to the tournament finals an easy one for Western Carolina. After enjoying an almost comfortable 14-point lead after the first 20-minutes, the Lady Catamounts watched its cushion slowly erode thanks to hot shooting by the Phoenix in the second half as they shot 50 percent in the final 20 minutes of the game.
The Phoenix opened the second half with a three-pointer by Amber Wall, one of 12 three-pointer buckets Elon made in the game. Western Carolina hovered in the double-figure lead zone from the first eight minutes of the second half before Elon's Tierra Bumbrey cut it to nine points with one of her seven three-pointers in the game.
Elon took one of its two leads with six minutes left. The Phoenix pulled ahead by one for a second time, 54-53, with 6:30 left in the game.
Senior Jessika Johnson helped Western Carolina regain the lead, 55-54, hitting a jumper with 6:16 left. The Johnson lay-up sparked an 11-0 run by Western Carolina to give the Lady Cats a 64-54 lead with 3:10 left. The run was highlighted by a Kendra Eaton lay-up in which she was fouled by Elon's Amber Wall, and hit the free throw for the three-point play.
Western Carolina had to continue to battle Elon in the final three minutes of the game. The Phoenix drained a pair of three-pointers and a lay-up to keep the game in striking distance. The Lady Cats were 6-of-11 from the free throw line to close out the game to keep the Phoenix at bay.
The Lady Catamounts came out on fire in the first half shooting 59.3 percent from the field. Johnson also had a highlight play in the first half, draining the first three-pointer of her career two minutes into the game.
Overall, Western Carolina shot 45.9 percent from the field and was just 3-of-8 from three-point range. The Lady Cats did get 21 second chance points and got 33 of its points from the bench.
The Lady Catamounts were led by senior Monique Dawson who had 15 points and was 2-of-3 from the three-point line. Eaton and freshman Emily Clarke each recorded double figures for the second straight SoCon Tournament game. Eaton had 11 and Clarke was two shy of her career-high with 12.
Western Carolina will face Chattanooga in the Southern Conference Championship in the Southern Conference Championship Monday at 5:00 p.m. for the third time in school history. The Lady Cats are 0-2 against the Lady Mocs in the finals and 0-8 overall when facing Chattanooga in the SoCon Tournament.
In addition to the game being televised on SportSouth, fans can follow all of the action on the Catamount Sports Network with special championship coverage beginning at 4:30 pm ahead of the tip-off 5:00 pm. The game can be heard across Western North Carolina on WWCU-FM, Power 90dot5 in Cullowhee or online at www.WWCUFM.com.
