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Western women defeat EKU following loss to Lady Tigers
Western Carolina's women's basketball team opened the home portion of its schedule by defeating Eastern Kentucky 73-60 Nov. 22 at the Ramsey Center.
The Lady Cats had started the season Nov. 19 with a 62-55 loss at Clemson.
Eastern Kentucky
Chevon Keith scored 11 points and pulled down 13 rebounds in the win over the Lady Colonels. Ki-Ki Glass added 10 points and five assists, and Ashley Pellom also scored 10.
Ashley Cazee and Laura Shelton netted 13 and 12 points, respectively, for EKU.
"I'm very proud of this team for their effort and their never-give-up attitude," said Kellie Harper, who picked up her first win as a head coach. "It's great to get my first win here at home in front of our home fans."
Western trailed 33-31 at halftime but took the lead for good at 45-43 on a three-pointer by Shaketia Barnes with 11:01 to go in the half. It was part of a 13-2 run that ended on Lori Tanner's free throw making it 49-43 at the 10:01 mark.
WCU steadily pulled away and built the lead to 69-55 as Glass converted a three-point play at the 1:33 mark.
EKU enjoyed a 10-point lead with seven minutes left in the first half before the Lady Cats rallied.
Western hit 47.2 of its field goal tries and held the Lady Colonels to 33.3 percent.
WCU dominated the boards 48-29. Miranda Eckerle was EKU's leading rebounder with seven.
Western committed 14 turnovers, and the Lady Colonels had 10.
Completing the WCU scoring were Tanner and Jennifer Gardner with eight apiece, Teyawna Hardy and Leah Barrier both with six, Barnes and Jessika Johnson with five each and Sigita Maleraite with four.
Clemson
Both teams had trouble finding the range, but Clemson pulled out the win behind 11 points from Reggie Maddox.
Tanner paced WCU with 11 points. Gardner, Hardy and Johnson had 10 apiece.
Western shot 31.8 percent from the floor, and Clemson made 31.3 percent of its attempts.
The Lady Tigers built a 33-19 lead on Julie Talley's three-pointer with 4:53 to go in the half, but WCU scored the last nine points of the half, including four by Hardy, trimming the gap to 33-28.
Johnson's jumper brought the Lady Cats within 36-35 with 14:26 to go in the game but they never managed to catch up. They kept the pressure on and trailed just 51-49 after two free throws by Gardner at the 3:51 mark.
Clemson hit four foul shots in the final 30 seconds to seal the win.
"I'm real proud of the effort we gave," Harper said. "Our kids played very hard and gave themselves a chance to win the game. We kept fighting to keep it close. Every time Clemson made a run, we'd find a way to fight and claw our way back into it."
Amanda White's 12 rebounds helped Clemson to a 53-46 advantage on the boards. Tanner had six rebounds for WCU.
Turnovers hurt both teams as Clemson committed 24 and Western had 20.
Rounding out the WCU scoring were Glass and Barnes with three apiece and Keith, Parham, Erin May and Christi Mannino all with two.
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