CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Junior guard Chelsea Wooten scored a career-high 29 points to lead Western Carolina women's basketball on Tuesday, but the Catamounts couldn't withstand a fourth-quarter burst from visiting USC Upstate as the Spartans claimed a 73-64 victory on Education Day on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center.
Wooten posted her best shooting performance of her collegiate career, going 10-of-19 from the floor which included eight 3-pointers in the contest. Lonasia Brewer came off the bench to add a team-high 10 rebounds for her second double-figure performance on the glass this season. Jada Burton filled the stat sheet on Tuesday with seven points, five rebounds, and five assists, which led the Catamounts in the helper column.
USC Upstate (4-6) was led by Isabell West who scored 29 points, finishing 11-of-15 from the field and a perfect 6-of-6 at the free throw line. Jeni Levine added 11 points and five rebounds to accompany a team-best five steals. AC Markham led the Spartans on the glass with 10 rebounds.
Western Carolina got off to a strong start on Tuesday with an 8-3 burst out of the gates to gain the early advantage over Upstate. The Spartans answered with a 9-3 run of their own to regain the 12-11 lead with 3:41 to play in the quarter. Upstate scored seven of the game's next 11 points to stretch the lead to four, 19-15 before a Burton pull-up triple at the buzzer made it a 19-18 advantage for the Spartans after one quarter.
After a 3-pointer in the opening minute of the quarter from the guests, WCU turned it on in a big way, using a 13-3 run over the next four and a half minutes to gain a 31-25 lead over USC Upstate with 3:56 to play in the first half. Upstate closed the half by scoring five of the final eight points to give the Catamounts a 34-30 lead at intermission.
WCU (2-7) used the 3-point shot early in the second half on a pair of triples from Wooten and one from Reagan Trumm as part of a 14-6 run in the opening minutes of the half to take a game-high 12-point, 48-36 lead with 6:08 to go in the third quarter. USC Upstate then closed the frame on a 12-5 run to cut the deficit to five, 53-48, as the teams headed to the fourth.
Upstate began the fourth quarter scoring 10 unanswered points that allowed the Spartans to take a 58-53 lead. WCU responded with the next five points to even the game at 58 with 5:43 to play in the contest. The Spartans offense continued pushing forward, though, scoring the next 11 points, allowing the guests to stretch the lead to 11, 69-58 with 1:53 to play. Wooten hit a pair of threes in the final minutes of the game to again cut the deficit to five, 69-64 but the Spartans closed scoring the games final four points to claim a 73-64 win.
USC Upstate posted a 44.4% (28-of-63) field goal percentage and held the Catamounts to 41.4% (24-of-58) in the contest. WCU connected on a season-high 11 3-pointers as the Spartans made four triples on Tuesday afternoon. The guests were 13-of-18 at the foul line as the Catamounts made 5-of-6 at the charity stripe. The Spartans won the rebounding battle by six, 39-33, and had a +10 in points off turnovers by 22-12. Upstate outscored WCU in the paint 40-22 and had a 38-20 scoring advantage in bench scoring.
The Catamounts are set to close their season-long four-game homestand on Saturday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m. on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center against mountain rival UNC Asheville. The matchup with the Bulldogs will be the backend of a doubleheader as the men's team squares off with UNCA at 4 p.m. Both games will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available on CatamountSports.com.
Western Carolina assistant men's basketball coach Ryne Lightfoot and head women's basketball coach Kiley Hill will take part in the December installment of the Catamount Coaches Show on Wednesday evening, live-on-location at Innovation-Cullowhee located on-campus in Noble Hall. The Facebook LIVE show airs on the Catamount Athletics official Facebook page (fb.com/catamountsports) beginning at 6 p.m.
Keep track of everything related to Catamount women's basketball and WCU Athletics through its social media outlets on Facebook (fb.com/catamountsports), Instagram (@wcu_catamounts), and Twitter (@catamounts, Catamountwbb).
