Greenville, S.C. – Chelsea Wooten nailed five 3-pointers in leading four Catamounts in double figures on Wednesday night as Western Carolina mounted a furious second half rally, erasing all but seven points of a game-high 23-point third quarter deficit. However, WCU was unable to complete the comeback as the Furman Paladins rode a hot start to the 82-73 victory in Southern Conference women's basketball action Thursday night at Hayes Gym on the campus of North Greenville University.
 
Wooten finished with a team-best 20 points as one of three players in the game to crest the 20-point plateau as Furman's Tate Walters scored a game-high 30 and Sydney Ryan added 22 points and 10 rebounds for the Paladins. Posting her second 20-point performance of the season, Wooten connected on the team's first 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the second quarter and added four in the second half to help spur the Catamount rally. The McKinney, Texas, native sank the 200th 3-pointer of her collegiate career on Thursday.
 
Jada Burton continued to fill the stat sheet on Thursday, chipping in 17 points with eight rebounds and five assists, while Zanoria Cruz scored 12 with six boards. Both hit collegiate career milestones in the road defeat, hitting the 1,000 career points scored mark – Burton doing so between two stops at Dodge City Community College and WCU, while Cruz scored all her points in Cullowhee over the past five seasons.
 
Tyja Beans posted her seventh double-double effort of the season – and second-consecutive – hitting double-figures for the ninth-straight game with 14 points and 11 rebounds.
 
Walters and Ryan led the Paladins with 30 and 22 points, respectively, with Raina McGowens scoring 13 points and Kate Johnson finished with nine points for Furman.
 
The billing between the top two offenses in the SoCon did not disappoint despite streaks of sluggish play by both teams in the game. The chromatic conference foes combined for 155 total points in the bout, the most in any SoCon game this season.
 
Furman (11-7, 1-1 SoCon) opened the game hot from the field, hitting its first five shots of the night to take an 11-2 lead. Cruz broke up the Paladin scoring run with a mid-range jumper early, but the early deficit forced a quick timeout from the Catamounts. WCU maintained relative pace with Furman down the stretch but was outscored 7-4 in the final seven minutes of the quarter to trail 18-6 after the first.
 
Neither team enjoyed much offensive success in the second quarter as the SoCon's top two offenses combined for a 9-for-34 mark from the floor and just 2-of-14 from range. The Catamounts were able to capitalize from the free throw line, knocking down 6-of-8 including a pair of 100% efforts from both Burton and AC Carter. After missing their first 13 three-point tries, Wooten knocked down a shot from outside the arc in the final seconds of the half as the Catamounts trailed at the break, 33-21.
 
The second half opened similarly to the first as the Paladins hit back-to-back 3-pointers to stretch their lead to 18 out of the gates. WCU called another timeout and momentarily stopped the Paladin attack with a Wooten jumper, but Furman hit a third to go up 19 with 8:24 to play in the quarter.  
 
The Paladins stretched their lead to a game-high 23 twice midway through the third quarter before WCU began chipping away at the deficit. Wooten hit two big 3-pointers in the Catamount push, knocking down the 200th of her career with 2:30 to go to make it a 14-point game.
 
Both teams jockeyed down the stretch, before Cruz hit a pair of free throws to make it a 61-48 game. Furman's Kate Johnson went 1-of-2 at the line ahead of Burton burying a 3-pointer with three seconds left to cut the Furman lead back to 13, 64-51, through three quarters. The two teams combined for 61 total points in the third quarter alone.
 
The Catamounts carried their momentum into the fourth quarter, outscoring the Paladins 22-18 in the final frame. WCU scored six of the first eight points in the final frame to close the deficit to single digits at nine points – the closest the Catamounts had been since the seven-minute mark of the first quarter. The guests managed to cut the deficit to nine points three times over the next three minutes with Wooten converting a Taj Hunter steal into a triple with three minutes to play to make it 74-65.
 
Down the stretch, WCU got to within eight points twice on a pair of buckets by Burton before eventually cutting the margin to just seven on another Burton basket. But Walters converted a pair of free throws inside the final 15 seconds as time ran out on WCU's rally.
 
Catamount Notables:

• Chelsea Wooten entered Thursday with 197 career 3-pointers made – 33 at the College of Charleston as a true freshman; 73 at McLennan College in Texas; and at Western Carolina, 57 in 2023-24 and 34 in 2024-25 … She hit five 3-pointers against Furman to give her 202 over the past four seasons;
• Two Catamounts hit the 1,000 career point milestones on Thursday night … Zanoria Cruz entered the Furman game just 12 points shy of recording 1K all in a Catamount uniform and hit the mark on the nose … In her second season in the Purple & Gold, Jada Burton now has 340 points, coupled with the 663 she scored in two seasons at Dodge City CC to stand at 1,003 career points;
• Tyja Beans has recorded double-doubles in back-to-back games for the third-time this season – she posted a double-dip against West Georgia and at Queens in mid December … Beans closed 2024 against Southern Wesleyan and opened 2025 against Montreat with a double-double … Most recently, she has double-doubles against ETSU and at Furman in SoCon play;
• Jada Burton recorded 10 points of her 17 points over the final 10 minutes of play; 

Up Next for The Catamounts:  
WCU remains on the road, again returning to the Upstate of South Carolina as the Catamounts face the Wofford Terriers in Spartanburg on Saturday, Jan. 18. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. in the Hub City. WCU then has the midweek off before returning home to host the UNCG Spartans on National Girls and Women in Sports Day on Saturday, Jan. 25.