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Western Carolina women win pair of league games
Western Carolina’s women’s basketball team picked up a pair of Southern Conference road wins last week.
The Lady Cats (7-18, 7-9) knocked off George Southern on Feb. 13 and defeated Furman Saturday.
Erin May scored 11 points, and Chevon Keith had 10 in the 65-62 win over Georgia Southern.
Nicole Newton paced the Lady Eagles with 14 points. Shawnda Atwood and Nya Daley both added 11.
WCU controlled most of the first half and led 29-14 on May’s layup at the 6:51 mark.
GSU closed the half with a 16-2 run, including four each by Atwood and Newton, for a 33-33 tie at intermission.
The second half stayed close with the biggest lead being a 57-51 Lady Eagle advantage after Daley’s jumper with 7:21 on the clock.
Eight unanswered points, the last four by Keith, gave the Lady Cats a 59-57 edge at the 5:10 mark.
Amelia Miller’s jumper with 1:14 on the clock gave Western the lead for good, 63-62.
GSU missed three shots on its next two possessions.
Keith’s two free throws with six seconds left accounted for the final.
Some of the statistics were very similar with WCU making 33.8 percent of its field goal tries while the Lady Eagles hit 33.3 percent.
GSU had one more turnover than the Lady Cats, 21-20.
One place where Western dominated was on the boards with a 53-44 advantage. Keith led the Lady Cats with eight while Newton was the game’s top rebounder with nine.
Completing the WCU scoring were Monique Dawson and Jessika Johnson with eight apiece, Miller and Ashley Pellom both with six, Kendra Eaton and Teshymia Tillman each with five, April Parker with four and Lauren Powell with two.
Dawson scored 10 points Saturday at Furman as the Lady Cats won 63-49.
Chrissy Phelps of the Lady Paladins was the game’s top scorer with 14, and Melissa Liebschwager netted 10.
Furman led 12-6 on a Phelps trey with 12:46 to play in the first half. Western moved in front and took a 27-19 lead at the 1:35 mark following Keith’s jumper.
WCU led 29-24 at intermission.
The Lady Paladins were within 43-41 on Melynda Gant’s jumper at the 12:07 mark.
Western clinched the win with a 12-2 game-ending run during which seven players scored.
WCU shot 38.3 percent from the floor, and Furman made 33.3 percent of its field goal tries.
A 48-29 rebounding advantage was a big reason for the win. Parker had eight rebounds while Gant and Megan Scott led the Lady Paladins with seven apiece.
Furman committed 16 turnovers, and the Lady Cats had 15.
Rounding out the WCU scoring were Powell, Tillman and Johnson all with eight, Miller and Keith both with six, Pellom with five, and Eaton, May and Parker with four apiece.
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