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Schedule

Full
Lauren LaPlant
Noah Sautter, WCU Athletics
53
Western Carolina WCU 3-17, 0-5 SoCon
69
Winner Furman FUR 13-7, 4-2 SoCon
Western Carolina WCU
3-17, 0-5 SoCon
53
Final
69
Furman FUR
13-7, 4-2 SoCon
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Western Carolina WCU 11 15 16 11 53
Furman FUR 25 14 12 18 69

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | Denise Gideon, Director of Media Relations

Gritty Catamounts Continue to Claw in Loss to Furman

LaPlant and Andrea Martin Ruiz lead with 13 points

The Basics
Score: Furman 69, Western Carolina 53
Records: Western Carolina 3-17, 0-5 SoCon, Furman 13-7, 4-2 SoCon
Location: Timmons Arena, Greenville, S.C.   
 
GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Western Carolina Catamount women's basketball team turned in another hard-fought and gritty performance Saturday before falling to Furman 69-53 at Timmons Arena. 
 
Turning Point:
Furman outscored Western Carolina 25-11 in the first quarter and used that 14-point lead to milk the rest of the game. The Paladins also benefited from 29 trips to the free-throw line hitting 19.
 
Individual Leaders
  • Redshirt junior Lauren LaPlant and freshman Andrea Martin Ruiz paced the Lady Catamounts with 13 points each. 
  • Judith Martin Ruiz scored eight points and ripped down a team-best six rebounds. 
  • Sophomore Jewel Smalls just missed scoring in double figures with nine points also dished out four assists. 
  • Furman's Tierra Hodges had a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. 
 
Inside the Box Score
  • Western Carolina did battle Furman in the second and third quarters holding the Paladins to a total of 26 points in the second (14) and third quarters (12). WCU poured in a total of 30 points over the second and third including shooting 63 percent in the third. 
  • The Catamounts cut the Paladin lead to seven points, 40-47, with 1:18 left in the third quarter but Furman pushed it back to double digits with a three-pointer by Grace van Rij at the 1:01 mark.
  • Western Carolina trailed by nine, 51-42, at the end of the third but Furman outscored the Lady Catamounts 18-11 in the fourth to secure the win. 
  • Furman drained six three-pointers in the game and held a Catamount team averaging seven three-pointers per game to two. 
  • The Paladins pounded the glass pulling down 41 rebounds, 24 on the defensive side, and holding Western Carolina to 26 with only seven offensive boards.
  • Western Carolina shot 41.5 percent from the field while Furman was right behind at 41.3. 
  • The Catamounts gave up the ball 15 times turning into 15 Furman points. 
 
News & Notes
  • LaPlant became the eighth player to hit 55 or more three-pointers in a season with her 55th three-pointer against Furman. She moves into a tie for seventh place in the WCU record books for most three-pointers in a season tying with former Catamount standout Lauren Powell (2006-07) who ended her career as the career three-pointer leader. 
  • LaPlant's three-pointer against Furman keeps her streak alive having hit at least one three-pointer in all 20 games on the season. 
  • With two three-pointers in the game as a team, Western Carolina has 145 on the season moving into sixth place in the WCU record books. The Catamounts need three three-pointers in the next game to move up to the fifth place. 
  • Smalls now has 198 rebounds on the season. It is the most rebounds by a Lady Catamount since Sherae Bonner ripped down 235 in the 2017-18 season. 
  • Western Carolina's 13 turnovers in the game against Furman is the second least amount of the season. 
  • Smalls (46) and LaPlant (55) have combined to have 101 of Western Carolina's 145 three-pointers on the season. 
  • In SoCon play, LaPlant is averaging 13.4 points per game, in the five games played, and shooting 37.9 percent from the field.
 
 
Up Next
Western Carolina returns home Thursday to host Samford at 7 p.m. in the Ramsey Center. 
 
For the latest information on Lady Catamount women's basketball, follow @catamounts on Twitter or go to www.catamountsports.com.
 
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