CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Behind a game-high 18 points from junior Chelsea Wooten, the Western Carolina women's basketball team pushed its win streak to three in a row on Sunday afternoon with a 58-39 victory over Montreat on Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center.
"I thought we played flat throughout the course of the basketball game," said head coach Kiley Hill. "I give Montreat a lot of credit as they are a scrappy basketball team, but we were fortunate to keep them at bay, especially from beyond the arc."
Wooten used the three ball to her advantage on Sunday, connecting on four triples to tabulate her team-high 18 points while also dishing out a team-high four assists. Zanoria Cruz, Audrey Meyers, and Lonasia Brewer all missed double figures as each had eight points in the victory. Brewer and Meyers both pulled down six rebounds in the contest.
"I felt that (Chelsea) Wooten gave us a spark early on the offensive end that helped carry us offensively to the win," added Hill. "Audrey is the ultimate blue-collar player as she does whatever we need for her to do for the team to be successful, and she's one of those steady-eddy players."
Jada Burton had her best rebounding output in a WCU uniform as the Spartanburg, S.C., native corralled eight rebounds, leading the Catamounts on the glass.
Virginia Edmondson led the Cavaliers with 11 points while adding four rebounds, three assists, and a pair of steals. Aebri Graham finished with nine points as Graham connected on three of the Montreat five 3-pointers. Vaniyah Petty led the guests on the glass with 11 rebounds, including five on the offensive end of the court.
Both teams traded buckets in the opening minutes on Sunday before a 12-3 run from the hosts over the next four minutes stretched the home team's advantage to nine, 16-7. In the run for WCU, the deep ball was the key as Wooten connected on three, along with Cruz adding one of her two from beyond the arc. The two teams added a layup in the final minutes en route to an 18-9 Catamount lead after 10 minutes.
Neither team got on the scoreboard over the opening three plus minutes of the second quarter before a pair of layups from Wooten and Brewer allowed the Catamounts to push it to a 22-9 lead with 5:52 to play in the opening half. The guests scored four of the next six points to cut the WCU lead to 11, 24-13 before the Catamounts, behind Wooten and Meyers, stretched it back to 13, 28-15. Montreat added a pair of late free throws to make it 28-17 at intermission.
Following a Cavaliers layup in the opening minute of the third quarter, Western Carolina (5-10) used a 13-3 run over the next five minutes to push the lead to 41-22 with 4:17 to play in the third quarter. During the run, Wooten tallied five points to lead WCU. The Cavs added a three in the final two minutes to make it 41-25 after three quarters.
In the opening minutes of the fourth, Montreat converted four straight at the free throw line, sandwiched between a Cruz triple to make it a 44-29 WCU lead just one minute into the frame. WCU responded with a 9-2 run over the next four minutes to stretch the lead to 53-31 halfway through the final 10 minutes. The Cavaliers connected on a pair of threes that cut into the Catamounts lead at 54-37, but could not get any closer as the hosts closed out nonconference with a 58-39 victory.
Western Carolina posted a 46.2% (25-of-52) performance from the floor as Montreat was limited to 25.9% (14-of-54). Sunday's defensive performance is back-to-back games in which WCU has held an opponent under 26% shooting and the fifth time a team has shot below 30% this season.
WCU made six threes and held the Cavaliers to only five from beyond the arc, as the guests had averaged 7.5 per game coming into Sunday's action, including six games with eight or more threes this season. WCU went 4-of-6 at the foul line as Montreat was 6-of-11 at the charity stripe.
The Catamounts controlled the glass by 10, 41-31, led by Burton's WCU-best eight boards. The hosts tallied 16 assists compared to seven from the Cavs. Western Carolina controlled the paint scoring, scoring 36-16 and 22-7 in bench scoring.
The Catamounts open SoCon play on Thursday, Jan. 11, as Furman visits Ingles Court at the Ramsey Center for a 7 p.m. start. The matchup with the Paladins will be shown on ESPN+ (paid subscription required), with live stats available on CatamountSports.com and live audio provided by Catamount Sports Network.
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