Western women clinch best record in 18 years

The victory assured the Lady Cats (15-10, 7-9) of their first winning season since 1982-83. Jennifer Gardner added 15 points for Western, and Melissa Ervin had 10.

Charleston's Rachel King scored 18 points. Wilma Simpson and Brittney Scarberry both finished with 15.

The first half produced eight ties and 16 lead changes. The biggest margin was 37-32 when Scarberry scored at the 4:09 mark. The Lady Cougars led 42-41 at intermission.

Charleston was up 57-50 with 11:23 to play, but WCU went on a 27-12 run to take control.

Janetta Heggins had nine rebounds helping the Lady Cats to a 42-35 advantage on the boards. Simpson was the game's top rebounder with 11.

Heggins also handed out seven assists.

The rebounding edge was the difference in the game as field goal shooting and turnovers were nearly even. Western shot 44.4 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 16 times. The Lady Cougars made 44.1 percent of their field goal tries and committed 18 turnovers.

Completing the WCU scoring were Ki-Ki Glass and Miranda Long with nine apiece, Yoneko Allen with six and Heggins with three.

Western was scheduled to play at Appalachian State at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Results were not known at the Herald sports deadline.

The final regular season game is set for 2 p.m. Saturday against UNC-Greensboro at the Ramsey Center.

Back to Sports: 02/21/02.