Box Score

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Western Carolina women's basketball (7-7) opened 2015 with a 63-53 loss at Bethune-Cookman (4-10) Saturday in Moore Gymnasium.

For the second straight game, Western Carolina used a strong second half performance to try and battle back from a big first half deficit trailing 31-18 at the half. The Catamounts out-scored Bethune-Cookman 35-32, on the heels of a strong second-half defensive effort, but just couldn't recover from the point total of Bethune-Cookman in the first half.

Western Carolina opened the second half with a 13-2 run to trim the Lady Wildcats lead to three, 34-31. The Catamounts run was capped off by lay-up by freshman forward Sherae Bonner - seeing her first action since leaving the game against North Greenville Dec. 3. Bonner ended the game with three points, three rebounds and a block in five minutes of play.

Bethune-Cookman's Kailyn Williams hit a lay-up to push the Lady Wildcat's lead back to five. 36-31, at 15:01 left. Western Carolina trimmed the Lady Wildcats lead back to three, 39-36 with 10:44 left, when senior guard Ali Lane hitting 1-of-2 free throws after Bethune Cookman Head Coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis was called for a technical foul.

Williams struck again for Bethune-Cookman pushing its lead back to five, again. Western Carolina didn't cut the Bethune-Cookman below five points for the remainder of the game.

The Catamounts opened the game with a 6-2 advantage and after Bethune-Cookman tied it at six the Lady Wildcats surged ahead quickly. Bethune-Cookman took the lead on a lay-up by Kayla Crawford and never trailed again.

After the quick start, Western Carolina couldn't seem to find the rim for the remaining of the first half. WCU went four plus minutes without scoring, allowing the Lady Wildcats to build a 16-6 lead. Freshman Emily Hatfield ended the scoring drought when she hit a field goal with 14:08 left in the first half.

Western Carolina posted its second lowest point total in a half, this season, with 18 points against Bethune-Cookman as the Lady Wildcats took a 31-18 lead into half time. Bethune-Cookman shot 44.2 percent from the field and scored 24 points in the paint. Western Carolina shot just 28.6 percent from the field. The big story was the 11 blocks the Lady Wildcats posted including seven from Williams who also poured in 10 points. Western Carolina did win the rebounding battle 39-36 including holding Bethune-Cookman to seven offensive rebounds. The Catamounts hit three pointers in the game, one in the first half and two in the second.

The Catamounts stayed in the game at the free throw line shooting 87.5 percent from the charity stripe hitting 14-of-16.

Freshman guard Ace Easter led the Catamounts with 16 points, the second-most points Easter has scored this season. Senior guard Justin Taylor pushed her consecutive double figure scoring to 19 straight games, dating back to the 2013-14 season, with 12 points.

Bethune-Cookman's Kendra Cooper led the Lady Wildcats with 20 points and Kayla Crawford added a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Western Carolina returns to the friendly confines of the Ramsey Center Monday hosting Montreat. Tip time is set for 5 p.m. as part of a doubleheader with Catamount men's basketball who will host Furman at 7:30 p.m.