Feb. 22, 2010

Box Score

CULLOWHEE, N.C. - Western Carolina women's basketball (7-21, 6-13 SoCon) played spoiler to Chattanooga (20-8, 15-4 SoCon), as the Lady Mocs were looking to lock in an outright claim to the Southern Conference regular season title, Monday in the Ramsey Center. The Catamounts shocked Chattanooga with a 51-49 win, in overtime, in Western Carolina's final home game of the season.

The Catamounts had to hold off Chattanooga, in the final seconds of overtime, leading by two points. The Lady Mocs had the ball with 10 seconds remaining, but Jenaya Wade-Fray, who had hit both field goals for Chattanooga in overtime, missed a jumper as time expired.

Chattanooga's Shanara Hollinquest missed a jumper, with one second remaining, that would have given the Lady Mocs a win in regulation, with the score tied at 42. It was Hollinquest that hit a field goal, and was fouled, to tie the game at 42 with 48 seconds left.

In the Catamount's first overtime game of the season, the Catamounts took the lead in the first 30 seconds when junior Emily Clarke hit a jumper to go up 44-42. Western Carolina kept Chattanooga at bay at the free throw line, in overtime, going 6-of-8 from the charity stripe. The Catamounts also got a huge boast from sophomore Kaila'Shea Menendez who hit a monster three-pointer, tipping the rim and rolling in, to give the Catamounts a 49-45 advantage with 2:39 left.

Scoring was a premium in the first 20 minutes of the game. Western Carolina led Chattanooga by six, 18-12, with 3:48 left but the Lady Mocs scored seven unanswered points to lead by one, 19-18, at the break.

There were six ties in the second half, with Western Carolina building its largest lead of the game, eight, 36-28, with 8:29 left. Tied at 39, sophomore Caitlin Hollifield hit 1-of-2 free throws and hit a lay-up, to put the Catamounts up 42-39, before she fouled out.

The Catamounts shot 33.9 percent from the field and held Chattanooga to 26.7 percent. Though Western Carolina gave up seven three-pointers to the Lady Mocs, Western Carolina poured in 22 points inside the paint, and held Chattanooga to 12 points.

Clarke led the club with 12 points and also had two steals. Hollifield had eight points, pulled down 10 rebounds and added a block.

The win is the third seasonal split for Western Carolina this season. The club also split with Elon and UNC Greensboro and swept Furman.

Western Carolina plays its final game of the regular season at 3 p.m. Saturday at Wofford. The Seeding for the Southern Conference Tournament is still up in the air, however the Catamounts could place as high as seven or as low as 10. No matter the seeding, Western Carolina will either play at 1 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. March 4.