Jan. 13, 2012

Box Score

DAVIDSON, N.C. - Senior guard Kaila'Shea Menendez led all scorers, with 16 points, in Western Carolina women's basketball's (6-10, 1-6 Southern Confernence) 58-45 loss at Davidson (10-6, 6-1 SoCon) Friday in Belk Arena.

Menendez's game-leading 16 points pushes her even closer to the 1,000 career point mark. The Raleigh, N.C. native needs just 17 points to hit the 1,000 point plateau.

Western Carolina played tight defense, holding Davidson's leading scorer Sophia Aleksandravicuis, to just 10 points. In the previous meeting, on December 3, 2011, Aleksandravicuis led the Wildcats with 20 points.

The game was won at the free throw line. Davidson was awarded a pass to the charity stripe 21 times and hit 18 free throws in the game. The Wildcats were a perfect 10-for-10 at the half.

Western Carolina got to Davidson, and forced key turnovers, but the Catamounts just couldn't seem to capitalize on the offensive end.

The Catamounts looked like they might catch a break, in the middle of the second half, when Davidson's Shneeka Center was given a technical foul.

In a scramble for a rebound, Western Carolina's Shauna Terry and Center were battling for the ball. Terry was awarded a foul for an over the back call, but as the two fell to the floor, there was a scrum that occurred and Center was "T'ed" up for her behavior.

Western Carolina chose Menendez to hit the free throws for the technical foul and she drained them both. The technical foul on Center turned to a five point swing for the Catamounts as they were given the ball back, after Menendez's free throws and freshman guard Ali Lane nailed a three pointer.

Lane's three-pointer cut the Davidson lead to six, 47-41, but Western Carolina hit a scoring drought. The Catamounts went five plus minutes without scoring, allowing Davidson to go on a 7-0 run, and Western Carolina could never recover.

Diamond Hunnicutt's pair of free throws ended the scoring dry spell for Western Carolina however the Catamounts went over eight minutes without hitting a field goal. The Catamounts finally hit a field goal, with 3:32 remaining, when Menendez hit a lay-up.

Davidson won the rebounding battle, crashing the boards for 44 to Western Carolina's 39. All seven of the Wildcats' blocks were courtesy of Aleksandravicuis, who also had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

Neither team's shooting percentage was anything to write home about as Davidson shot 31 percent and Western Carolina was at 29.6.

Western Carolina will take a four day break before returning to action on Wednesday, January 18. The Catamounts host Elon in a noon game in the Ramsey Center, as part of Education Day.