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WCU snaps Davidson’s home winning streak; women lose
Western Carolina’s men stopped the nation’s third longest home court winning streak Saturday by pulling off a Southern Conference upset at Davidson.
Meanwhile, the Lady Cats lost their home game to Davidson on the same day.
Men
The Catamounts (11-13, 5-4) pulled a shocker by ending Davidson’s 19-game home winning streak 77-70. They did so without the services of leading scorer Antonio Russell, who was serving a one-game suspension for an unspecified violation of team rules.
Corey Muirhead scored 23 points for Western. David Berghoefer finished with 17, and Trey Hopkins had 15.
Jason Morton paced the Wildcats with 22 points. Also in double figures were Brendan Winters with 16 and Kenny Grant with 11.
Davidson made just 38.3 percent of its field goal attempts while Western shot 50 percent.
Hopkins scored the game’s first seven points in the opening 21 seconds, and the Wildcats never caught up.
WCU built a 26-15 lead on McKenna’s jumper at the 6:18 mark.
Consecutive three-pointers by Matt McKillop and Morton narrowed the deficit to 35-31 with 51 seconds on the clock, and the Cats led 37-31 at intermission.
Western led 67-55 following two Muirhead free throws at the 2:46 mark and was still up 72-61 after Kyle Greathouse made a pair of foul shots with 1:05 on the clock.
The Wildcats used back-to-back treys by Winters and Morton to close within 72-68 with 40 seconds to go.
Western hit five of six free throws down the stretch to seal the win.
Thomas Sander’s eight rebounds helped Davidson to a 38-32 advantage on the boards. Muirhead led WCU with seven.
The Cats committed just eight turnovers, and Davidson had 11.
Completing the WCU scoring were McKenna and Eric Wilson with seven apiece, Kyle Greathouse with five and Jared Outing with three.
Women
Davidson held off a Western rally, thanks in part to a costly technical foul, to take a 67-63 victory in the women’s game at the Ramsey Center.
Brynn Kelly scored 14 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Lady Cats. Also scoring in double figures were Jessica Mitchell with 13, Danielle Hemerka and Kelly Gassie with 12 apiece and Janell Crayton with 11.
Lauren Powell led Western with 13 points. Teyawna Hardy and Monique Dawson had 10 apiece.
Davidson led 61-51 at the 4:18 mark after Crayton made one of two free throws. The Lady Cats used a 10-1 run, including seven by Teshymia Tillman, to pull within 62-61 with 47 seconds left.
Hardy was called for a foul and then a technical. Jessica Mitchell hit all four free throws to seal the win.
A Mitchell jumper had given her team the lead for good, 39-38, with 13:59 to play.
The lead reached 55-44 following Gassie’s jumper with 7:38 on the clock.
Davidson enjoyed a 17-7 advantage after Tia Washington’s layup with 11:53 to play in the first half.
Hardy’s five points keyed an 11-2 spurt as the Lady Cats took a 30-27 edge with 25 seconds to play.
Hemerka’s trey tied it 30-30 at halftime.
Davidson made 43.1 percent of its field goal tries while holding WCU to 35.6 percent.
The Lady Wildcats controlled the boards 45-37. Chevon Keith topped Western with nine.
Davidson committed 23 turnovers, and the Lady Cats had 21.
Rounding out the WCU scoring were Tillman and Kendra Eaton with seven apiece, Keith and Ashley Pellom both with five, and April Parker, Amelia Miller and Erin May all with two.
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