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Lady Cats lose to Chattanooga in finals of conference tournament
Chattanooga scored 17 unanswered points late in the game Saturday to defeat Western Carolina 84-66 in the finals of the Southern Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament at the North Charleston (S.C.) Coliseum.
Chattanooga’s Alex Anderson scored 30 points and was named the tourney’s most valuable player. Laura Hall, Brooke Hand and Shanara Hollinquest, who were named all-tournament, scored 18, 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Brooke Johnson and Lauren Powell paced the Lady Cats (23-9) with 14 points apiece, and Chevon Keith had 11.
Johnson, Keith and Ashley Pellom were chosen all-tournament.
Western Carolina’s Chevon Keith scored 11 points in Saturday’s loss to Chattanooga in the finals of the Southern Conference Tournament. – Photo by Mark Haskett
Powell’s three-pointer tied the score 62-62 at the 5:45 mark.
Hand’s trey put the Lady Mocs ahead to stay, 65-62 with 4:57 on the clock. Hall also hit from long range making it 68-62 with 4:20 to go. Hand had seven in the spurt that resulted in a 79-62 lead at the 1:46 mark.
WCU was up 50-47 on Kendra Eaton’s layup with 14:58 to play.
Anderson had six points in a 10-2 spurt, capped by Hollinquest’s layup, making it 57-52 with 11:59 on the clock.
Western broke to a 7-0 lead on Powell’s trey with 17:40 to play in the first half.
Chattanooga went ahead 11-10 on Hall’s layup with 13:53 on the clock.
Things stayed close the rest of the half. The biggest lead was 34-29 on two Anderson foul shots at the 3:57 mark.
The margin was 38-36 at halftime.
WCU had a 34-31 edge on the boards. Keith and Anderson led their teams with eighth rebounds apiece.
Chattanooga shot 51.8 percent from the floor while Western hit 45.8 percent.
The Lady Cats committed twice as many turnovers, 18-9.
Completing the WCU scoring were Eaton with nine, Monique Dawson with eight, Pellom with six and Jessika Johnson with four.
WCU advances
Western reached the finals with a 73-59 win over Georgia Southern on Friday.
Pellom scored 21 points while Brooke Johnson followed with 16 and Jessika Johnson had 11.
Tiffany Brown led the Lady Eagles with 18 points. She was joined in double figures by Chequilla Jessie with 12 and Carolyn Whitney and Ashley Rivens with 11 apiece.
GSU was in control early and built a 19-10 lead on Whitney’s three-pointer with 13:15 to go in the half.
Western ran off 11 straight points to take a 31-29 edge after Brooke Johnson’s two free throws with 33 seconds on the clock.
Brown’s three-pointer with four seconds left put the Lady Eagles up 32-31 at intermission.
Pellom’s jumper capped a 13-2 run for a 48-41 Western advantage at the 13:55 mark.
The lead reached 58-48 on Heather Swayne’s jumper with 10:40 on the clock.
GSU cut the gap to 58-55 on a foul shot by Jessie at the 6:41 mark.
The Lady Cats responded with eight straight points, including four by Brooke Johnson, for a 66-55 lead with 4:26 on the clock.
WCU made 46.9 percent of its field goal tries while holding the Lady Eagles to 29.9 percent.
Led by Keith’s 12 rebounds, Western had a 48-44 edge on the boards. Brown topped GSU with eight.
The Lady Cats committed 12 turnovers, and Georgia Southern had 11.
Rounding out the WCU scoring were Keith with nine, Powell with eight, Pellom and Lynsie Lamitie with three apiece, and Eaton with two.
WCU sets record
The Lady Cats set a school record with their 22nd win by defeating Furman 79-56 in the tournament’s first round Feb. 28.
Dawson scored 16 points followed by Brooke Johnson with 14 and Powell with 11. Keith scored 10 and was dominant on the boards with 15 rebounds.
The Lady Paladins were led by Chrissy Phelps with 18 points and Katie Johnson with 10.
Western led all the way and used an early 18-2 run to take control. Powell sparked the spurt with a pair of treys and a three-point play. Lamitie’s layup made it 25-5 with 9:06 on the clock.
WCU scored the last nine points of the half for a 40-15 advantage.
The lead never slipped below 13 the rest of the way.
Western shot 45.6 percent from the floor while Furman made 36.8 percent of its field goal tries.
WCU dominated the boards 45-33. Johnson led Furman with nine rebounds.
The Lady Paladins committed 13 turnovers, and the Lady Cats had 10.
Completing the WCU scoring were Eaton and Jessika Johnson with eight each, Pellom with six, and Lamitie, Swayne and Erin May all with two.
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