Box Score

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Western Carolina women's basketball put together one of its finer performances of the season, but fell short, dropping an 84-72 decision at Furman Saturday in Timmons arena.

The Catamounts fall to 9-12 overall and 1-5 in the Southern Conference. Furman improves to 14-9 and 3-4 in the SoCon.

Senior guard Justin Taylor led all scorers with 28 points hitting 10-of-20 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. Junior forward Erika Joseph posted the second double-double of her career with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

Western Carolina opened the game on all cylinders keeping pace with the red hot shooting of Furman. Tied at eight, before the first media timeout, Furman went on a tear outscoring WCU 14-2. During the run the Paladins hit three consecutive three pointers to build a 22-10 lead with 13:14 left in the half.

The chasm caused by Furman's run would be the padding it would rely on the remainder of the game.

Trailing by double digits for most of the second part of the first half, Western Carolina began to chip away at the Furman lead in the final five minutes. A jumper by Taylor cut the Paladin lead to eight, 34-26 with 4:48 left. Furman's Holli Wilkins answered with a jumper to again give the Paladins a double digit lead.

Taylor's lone three pointer of the game was a near buzzer beater to close out the first half. With three seconds left Taylor nailed a three-pointer at the top of the key to slice Furman's advantage to 38-31 at the break.

Western Carolina came out in the second half on a 5-0 run with buckets by Ali Lane and Taylor to cut the Furman lead to 38-35 - its smallest disadvantage since trailing 11-8 with 16 minutes left in the first half.

The game stayed in single digits until Allison Beasley's three-pointer pushed the Furman lead to 52-41 with 14:39 left.

The game stayed close for most of the second half with Western Carolina making the game interesting when Taylor hit a jumper with 7:01 left to make the score 64-59. Furman hit a pair of free throws, by Wilkins, and a field goal by Shianne Goodwin to push its lead back to seven.

Joseph's jumper with 5:01 left again cut the Furman lead to five, 68-63. Furman go-to player Brittany Hodges all but took over the game, in a minute span, completing a three-point play, after being fouled, and another lay-up to give Furman a 73-65 lead with 3:03 left.

Furman's Whitney Bunn's three- pointer, with 2:30 left, iced the game pushing the Paladin lead back to double digits, 76-65, and all but put the game out of reach for Western Carolina.

Bunn had an unconventional double-double with 13 points and 10 assists. Wilkins and Hodges led Furman with 23 points each.

After shooting just 29.7 percent in the first half, Western Carolina roared to life in the second half at 48.4 percent. Furman kept pace by shooting 44.8 percent in the second half ending the game shooting 50 percent.

Western Carolina won the rebounding battle 43-34 ripping down a commanding 25 defensive rebounds. Neither team coughed the ball up much with the Catamounts giving it away eight times to Furman's seven.

The Catamounts continue their road swing traveling to Wofford Monday. Tip time is set for 6 p.m. and the game can be heard on catamountsports.com.