Game recaps and notes from around the South Atlantic Conference:

CARSON-NEWMAN - The Lady Eagles played only one game last week, defeating Lenoir-Rhyne, 69-57 ... Tashea Ledbetter gunned 16 points and Ashley Tipton added 15 to lead the Carson-Newman Lady Eagles to a 69-57 win over Lenoir-Rhyne Wednesday night at Holt Fieldhouse. The Lady Eagles shot 47.2 percent (25-53) on the night and forced the Bears into 28 turnovers ... Ledbetter’s game-best scoring numbers helped C-N to a 33-12 advantage in bench scoring. Gabrielle Smith and Cassie Burks combined to grab nine steals on the night and their teammates capitalized, posting 25 points off turnovers. Burks added 14 for Carson-Newman ... The Lady Eagles led by 14 points with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half before seeing the Bears scrap their way to a six-point deficit at halftime ... L-R’s Shannon Jones made a lay-up with 14:59 to play in the game to give her squad a 40-37 lead, the Bears last advantage of the day. Burks and Ledbetter tossed in quick buckets to give the Lady Eagles the lead for good ... The Lady Eagles have had their game with Presbyterian rescheduled twice due to inclement weather in the East Tennessee/Western North Carolina area. The new make-up date for the game is Monday, Feb. 20 at 6 p.m ... The Lady Eagles make the short trip to Greeneville on Wednesday to take on Tusculum and host Catawba on Saturday. Both games are scheduled for 6 p.m.

CATAWBA - Catawba snapped a seven-game losing streak, posting a 75-68 win over visiting Newberry in South Atlantic Conference women’s basketball action on Wednesday night at Goodman Gym. Hannah Davis (Williamsburg, VA) delivered a double-double with 18 points and 11 rebounds ... Catawba fell behind 13-0 in the opening three minutes and did not get on the scoreboard until a Tamekia Foster (Chesapeake, VA) layin at the 15:01 mark of the opening half. Newberry held a 21-12 lead with 9:20 remaining, but Catawba put together a 13-0 run of its own to grab a 25-21 edge. Ingrid Easter (Cana, VA) put Catawba on top at 23-21 with a three-pointer with 6:20 to go ... The teams stayed close in the second half and Newberry retook the lead with 4:54 left on a jumper by Cicely Jenkins (Columbia, SC). The lead see-sawed over the next two minutes with Catawba going up for good on freshman Brittany Higgins (Takoma Park, MD) jumper with 2:49 left. Foster extended the lead to 69-66 with 2:14 to go and Catawba made 6-of-8 at the line to hold on for the win ... Foster followed Davis’ double-double with 16 points and nine rebounds for Catawba, while Higgins added 14 ... Catawba shot 46 percent for the game and held Newberry to just 38 percent. Catawba also did well on the boards against the top rebounding team in the league with only a 41-40 deficit. Catawba was also efficient at the line, making 19-of-24 attempts (79 percent) ... In the second game of the week, Tusculum connected on 11 three-point goals and held off host Catawba to pick up a 73-70 win in South Atlantic Conference women’s basketball action on Saturday afternoon at Goodman Gym. Catawba falls to 7-16 and 2-8 ... Tusculum never trailed in the opening half and lead by as much as 11 points at 36-25 just before the break. Catawba used a 12-0 run to open the second half to take its lone lead at 39-36 with 15:49 to go. The Pioneers would score eight straight points to retake the lead ... The Lady Indians trailed by seven with two minutes remaining, but made a late run. A three-pointer by Gia Colombo (Concord, NH) trimmed the deficit to 72-70 with 14 seconds left. Tusculum made one of two free throws, but both Colombo and Ingrid Easter (Cana, VA) missed on three-point tries in the final seconds ... Stephanie Neptune (Wallkill, NY) posted a double-double for Tusculum with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Ashli Oliver (Kokomo, IN) tallied 16 points to lead four double-figurer scorers. Hannah Davis (Williamburg, VA) led all scorers for Catawba with 23 points, while Tamekia Foster (Chesapeake, VA) added 17 ... Tusculum shot 47 percent form the field and canned 11-of-23 (48 percent) from behind the arc. Catawba shot 43 percent, 53 percent in the final half.

LENOIR-RHYNE - The Lenoir-Rhyne College women’s basketball team (10-13, 3-7) split a pair of games this week, falling to Carson-Newman on Wednesday, 69-57, at the Holt Fieldhouse in Jefferson City, Tenn., before defeating Mars Hill, 78-64, at home on Saturday night … The Bears are still searching for their first league win on the road (0-5) in 2005-06 but are now tied with Mars Hill College for sixth place in the league standings … L-R rallied from a 24-10 deficit to open the contest against the Lady Eagles to take a 40-37 advantage on a lay-up by senior forward Shannon Jones (Warrenton, N.C.) early in the second half … From there, Carson-Newman reeled off seven straight points and a 10-0 run later in the half gave the Lady Eagles a commanding, 62-49 lead with 2:43 remaining in the game … Senior guard Sandi Hyatt (Albemarle, N.C.) hit a pair of three-pointers to cut the margin to six (63-57) but the Bears could not get any further … Lenoir-Rhyne, which was hurt by 28 turnovers, were led by Jones and freshman forward Ashlei Helton (Icard, N.C.) with 12 points apiece … Lenoir-Rhyne bounced back from an earlier loss to Mars Hill with a win over Lady Lions behind Jones’ career-high 31 points and 18 rebounds … Helton added 13 points for the Bears, who built an 18-point lead early in the second half and led by as many as nine the rest of the way … The Bears forced the Lady Lions into 23 turnovers and 38 percent (20-of-53) from the field … Jones, who leads the league in rebounding (11.1 rpg), now has 12 double-doubles on the year and has scored in double figures in 16 straight games … Helton, now a starter, has also scored 10 or more points in eight of her last nine games … Lenoir-Rhyne hits the road for its next two games, traveling to Wingate, N.C., to face Wingate Wednesday at 6 p.m., before visiting Clinton, S.C., to face Presbyterian Saturday at 2 p.m.

MARS HILL - MHC lost both of their games last week … The Lions lost at Tusculum, 92-70 and then fell at Lenoir-Rhyne, 78-64 … MHC is now 13-10 overall and 3-7 in the SAC … In the first game of the week, Chassity Martin (Salem, Va.) scored a career-high 33 points to lead the Tusculum women’s basketball team to a 92-70 South Atlantic Conference victory over Mars Hill on Wednesday evening at Pioneer Arena … Martin shot 10-of-17 from the field, including 5-of-9 from three-point range and sank 8-of-10 free throw attempts … Mars Hill also placed three players in double-figures, led by Lindsey Jones (Crossville, Tenn.), who tallied 19 … Kristi Ferris (Knoxville, Tenn.) had 14 points, and Allison Schafer (Advance, N.C.) contributed 11 … Led by six quick points by Jones, Mars Hill charged to a 9-2 led with just under three minutes lapsed … A three-pointer by Brittany Waddell (Greeneville, Tenn.) cut TC’s deficit to 13-12 at the 13:02 mark, but a trey by MHC’s Laura Snider (Old Fort, N.C.) pushed the Lions’ advantage back to six, 21-15, with 10:29 showing on the clock … The Pioneers continued to battle back and took their first lead of the half, 23-22, on an Oliver three-pointer at the 7:04 mark … Tusculum extended its lead to 36-30 with just under four minutes remaining in the half and carried a 40-37 cushion into intermission … Mars Hill shot 50 percent (14-of-28) in the opening stanza compared to just 36.8 percent (14-of-38) for Tusculum … TC came out firing in the second period, building its largest advantage to that point when Martin sank a pair of free throw to put the Pioneers ahead 54-44 with 14:34 remaining … The lead ballooned to 70-55 with just over eight minutes to play, but Mars Hill went on a 7-0 run to slice the advantage to 70-62 at the 7:27 mark … From there it was all TC, as the Pioneers out-scored the Lions 22-8 down the stretch to secure the victory … Tusculum out-rebounded Mars Hill 36-34 and scored 19 points off 19 MHC turnovers … The Pioneers’ eight turnovers were a season low … In the second game of the week, Shannon Jones (Warrenton, NC) scored 31 points and pulled down 18 rebounds to lead the Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne College past Mars Hill 78-64 in South Atlantic Conference women’s basketball action Saturday night at Shuford Gymnasium … Jones gave the Bears a 11-10 lead with 10:47 left in the first half hitting a layup and L-R would not trail the Lions the remainder of the game … L-R went on to take an 11-point (31-20) lead into the locker room at the intermission … The Bears opened the second half scoring seven unanswered points to take an 18-point advantage (38-20) with 18:39 left in the contest after Ashlei Helton (Icard, NC) hit a shot in the lane … MHC trimmed the deficit to just nine points (52-43) with 10:17 left on the clock after Kristi Ferris (Knoxville, TN) hit a 3-pointer but that was as close as the Lions would get ... Jones quickly scored four unanswered points on L-R’s next two possessions to extend the Bears lead to 14 points and seal the win … L-R scored 34 points in the paint, 28 points off MHC miscues and out rebounded the Lions 36-to-30. L-R hit 50 percent (26-52) of their field goals as opposed to MHC converting on only 37.7 percent (20-53) of their shots from the floor … Following Jones’ performance for L-R was Helton with 13 points and Leah Barrier (Morganton, NC) with 11 points and six assists … Four Lion players recorded double-figures in scoring in the loss. Ferris led MHC with 19 points followed by Allison Schafer (Advance, NC) with 17, Katie Davis (Harriman, TN) with 14 and Abby DeBusk (New Tazewell, TN) with 10 points … DeBusk added eight rebounds and Ariel Okunowo (Decatur, GA) posted a game-high eight assists in the game … MHC will host Catawba College on February 15 at 6 p.m. and then play at Wingate University on Saturday, also at 6 p.m.

NEWBERRY - Newberry’s 0-2 week dropped them to 4-6 in the league and 13-10 overall ... Catawba snapped a seven-game losing streak, posting a 75-68 win over visiting Newberry Wednesday night at Goodman Gym. Catawba fell behind 13-0 in the opening three minutes and did not get on the scoreboard until a Tamekia Foster lay-in at the 15:01 mark of the opening half. Newberry held a 21-12 lead with 9:20 remaining, but Catawba put together a 13-0 run of its own to grab a 25-21 edge. Ingrid Easter put Catawba on top at 23-21 with a three-pointer with 6:20 to go. The teams stayed close in the second half and Newberry retook the lead with 4:54 left on a jumper by Cicely Jenkins. The lead see-sawed over the next two minutes with Catawba going up for good on freshman Brittany Higgins (Takoma Park, Md.) jumper with 2:49 left. Foster extended the lead to 69-66 with 2:14 to go and Catawba made 6-of-8 at the line to hold on for the win ... Monica Alexander posted 18 points and seven boards for Newberry with Tonique Frasier added 14 points and Ashlee Wright 11 ... Catawba shot 46 percent for the game and held Newberry to just 38 percent. Newberry, the top rebounding team in the league, only edged the hosts by one rebound ... On Saturday, Laura Marquardt converted a four-point play late in the second half forcing an overtime period, but Newberry was unable to capitalize on a last-second shot in the extra period, giving Wingate University a 78-76 overtime win. It was Newberry’s first loss at home all season ... Newberry challenged the Bulldogs throughout, unlike their January 14th match-up where the Lady Indians were held to just 49 points in the 27-point loss. The Lady Indians had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but Tonya Deese’s shot was off the mark. Instead, Wingate guard Kate Edwards sank a highly contested 15-footer from the baseline with six seconds left in the overtime. Newberry had an oppportunity to tie, but Monica Alexander’s driving shot rimmed out ... Although being down for much of the game, including a nine-point defecit in the first half, Newberry never gave up and battled back. Early in the second half, the ladies produced a 6-0 run, knotting the score at 39 with 16:33 to go. Wingate responded with a 12-4 run of their own, giving them an eight-point advantage, 51-43, with 12:04 remaining. Ashlee Wright sparked another 6-0 run, helping Newberry draw to within two, 51-49, with 8:56 left ... With 1:48 to go, the Lady Indians fell down by seven but answered by scoring seven straight points, including Marquardt’s heroics, to extend the game. Deese scored four of her 17 total points in the overtime ... Wright led the way for Newberry with a career-high 24 points, while Deese added 17 and Tonique Frasier chipped in 11. Frasier and Deese dominated the glass with 14 and 13 rebounds, respectively, a season-high for Deese. Next up for Newberry is a home match-up with Presbyterian College on February 15 at 6 p.m. The Lady Indians round out the week at Tusculum.

PRESBYTERIAN - Presbyterian College (18-4, 7-2 SAC) dropped their lone game of the week, a 67-66 setback to Wingate University at home on Wednesday in a battle for the top spot in the South Atlantic Conference regular season ... PC’s 18 wins is the most since the 2001-02 season, when the Lady Blue Hose posted a 21-9 record ... Wingate University’s junior guard Tanetra Barrett scored a game-high 22 points to lead three players in double figures as the Bulldogs defeated host Presbyterian College 67-66 in SAC women’s basketball action Wednesday night. The game pitted two of the top two teams in the SAC as well as in the South Atlantic Region, as the Bulldogs entered the game ranked No. 3 in the region, while Presbyterian is No. 4. The first half saw the Bulldogs break the fifth tie of the game with a 9-0 run to pull ahead 19-10 at the 10:14 mark. The Lady Blue Hose responded with an 11-4 run to cut the lead to 21-19, but Wingate closed the first period on a 15-9 run to lead 36-28 at the half. Lady Blue Hose opened the second half on a 15-5 run to tie the game at 49-49 at the 8:04 mark. With the score tied at 51-51, PC’s sophomore Amy Jones (Warthen, Ga.) scored seven straight points to give the Lady Blue Hose a 56-53 lead with 6:01 remaining in the game. Wingate freshman Anna Atkinson (Marion, N.C.) hit the Bulldogs’ only three-pointer of the game to push the lead to 60-54 with 3:57 remaining. Atkinson scored four straight points and junior Emily Paffrath (Bakersville, N.C.) connected to a pair of free throws to give Wingate a 67-63 lead with :06 seconds remaining. PC’s Jones hit her fifth three-pointer of the game as time expired, but Wingate held on for the 67-66 victory. Barrett led all scorers with 22 points, while Atkinson chipped in 15 points and six assists for the Bulldogs, while senior Shannon Proffitt (Christchurch, New Zealand) added 11 points. Presbyterian was led by Jones’ team-best 19 points, while senior Rebecca Wessinger added 13 points ... Defensively, PC is allowing only 63.2 ppg and hold a +10.3 rebound advantage this season. In league play, PC is allowing 66.0 ppg and holding a +10.2 rebound advantage. When PC holds its opponents to under 67 points, they are 14-2 this season. PC on offense has six players averaging atleast 7.6 ppg and eight players are averaging at least 16.1 minutes per game ... Sophomore guard Amy Jones has come into her own this season. The native of Warthen, Ga., is averaging 10.3 ppg, 4.2 apg, 4.7 rpg, 1.5 spg, 0.8 bpg, while shooting 37.4 percent from the field, 37.7 percent from three-point range, and 76.7 percent from the free throw line. She ranks in nine different statistical categories in the latest South Atlantic Conference statistics ... Freshman center Sharie Hopkins is becoming an impact player for the Lady Blue Hose this season. Hopkins is averaging 11.5 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 0.9 bpg, 0.9 spg, while shooting 62.6 percent from the floor. She has improved her statistical averages in league play by averaging 14.7 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 0.9 spg, 0.8 bpg, and shooting 60.8 percent form the floor ... Wessinger leads the team in scoring (15.9 ppg), and is sixth in rebounds (4.3 rpg), while shooting 46.5 percent from the field, 39.5 percent from beyond the arc, and 77.4 percent from the line. She currently has 1,292 career points which ranks 7th in program history ... Senior center Cameron Cook continues her move up the program’s career rebounding chart. Cook, a native of Greensboro, N.C., currently ranks 10th in program history with 561 career rebounds. She needs seven more rebounds to move into 8th place and pass Nancy Renwick (1983-87) and Martha Williams (1982-86) who each tallied 567 career boards ... The Blue Hose travel to Newberry, S.C. on Wednesday, February 15 to face Newberry College at 6:00 pm, followed by a home game versus Lenoir-Rhyne College on Saturday, February 18 at 2:00 pm.

TUSCULUM - Tusculum posted a 2-0 record in its games last week, defeating Mars Hill 92-70 on Wednesday and knocking off Catawba 73-70 on Saturday… After losing three games in a row, the Pioneers have rebounded with wins in three of their last four contests to pull to 14-7 overall and 5-5 in the SAC… TC’s 92 points against Mars Hill was a season high. It was the first time a Pioneer squad had scored 90 points since TC downed Catawba 98-94 on Jan. 14, 2004. Sixty-two games had elapsed since that outing… Also against MHC, the Pioneers posted a season-low eight turnovers. It was the first time the squad had committed fewer than 10 turnovers since Feb. 19, 2003, versus Newberry… Junior Chassity Martin amassed a career-high 33 points to lead the Pioneers past the Lions. She is the first Pioneer to tally at least 30 points since Kristen New had 30 against Lander on Nov. 17, 2001… Also scoring double-figures in the victory were freshman Ashli Oliver (19) and junior Lauren Wrightson (12)... Wrightson’s dozen points marked a season-high, as did her nine rebounds. Coming into the game a 50 percent free throw shooter, she drained 8-of-12 attempts (67 percent) in the contest… In the victory at Catawba on Saturday, freshman Stephany Neptune tallied her third double-double of the season with 14 points and 14 rebounds. She also tallied three blocks and two steals… Oliver posted 16 points and six rebounds, while senior Amber Redding had 13 points, eight rebounds and four steals… Martin chipped in 14 points in the win… Junior Brooke Underwood tallied 10 assists against Mars Hill and 12 at Catawba to push her NCAA-leading average to 9.4 assists per contest. Underwood has recorded double-digit assists in the last four games… Averaging 9.8 three-pointers per game, Tusculum ranks second in Division II. The Pioneers’ .395 three-point percentage (as of last week’s NCAA statistical report) ranks fourth in the country… Oliver ranked third in three-pointers per game (3.7) and 20th in three-point percentage (.418), while Martin weighed in at 18th in treys per contest (2.7) and 35th in percentage (.395)… The Pioneers will host their final regular-season home games of the season this week, with Carson-Newman coming to town on Wednesday and Newberry following on Saturday… TC is 9-2 at Pioneer Arena in 2005-06.

WINGATE - Wingate University junior guard Tanetra Barrett had a solid week as the Bulldogs won two games. For her efforts, she was named this week’s SAC Player of the Week ... Wingate took sole possession of first place in the SAC standings last week. Barrett averaged 18.0 points per game and 6.0 rebounds per game last week. In addition, she shot 60.9 percent (14-of-23) from the field ... On Wednesday night, Barrett had team-high totals of 22 points and nine rebounds in a 67-66 SAC road win at Presbyterian. The Bulldogs and the Blue Hose entered the game tied for first in the league standings. On Saturday afternoon, Barrett contributed 14 points, three rebounds and three assists as Wingate edged Newberry 78-76 in overtime ... The 2004-05 SAC Co-Player of the Year, Barrett is 19th in the NCAA Division II in points per game (19.2) and 26th in individual field goal percentage (54.8 percent). Barrett leads the SAC in scoring. She is third in the league in individual field goal percentage. Barrett is averaging 20.6 points per game in league contests ... The PC game also pitted two of the top two teams in the South Atlantic Conference as well as in the South Atlantic Region, as the Bulldogs entered the game ranked number three in the region, while Presbyterian is number four ... Against PC, freshman guard Anna Atkinson chipped in 15 points and six assists for the Bulldogs. Wingate senior forward Shannon Proffitt added 11 points ... Wingate sophomore guard Kate Edwards sank a highly contested 15-footer from the baseline with 5.8 seconds remaining in overtime as Wingate grabbed a 78-76 victory over Newberry College Saturday afternoon ... Atkinson scored a career-high 20 points, while Edwards’ 20 is a conference-play career-high. Barrett added 14, extending her streak of double-digit games to 23 ... Barrett is 19th in points per game and 26th in individual field goal percentage. Barrett leads the SAC in scoring. Bulldog junior forward Emily Paffrath is 14th in blocked shots per game. Paffrath leads the league in blocked shots. Freshman point guard Anna Atkinson is 39th in assists per game ... As a team, the Wingate women are second on the NCAA Division II charts in team field goal percentage, 12th in scoring offense, 31st in team free throw percentage and 37th in team three-point field goal percentage ... Wingate University is the number one scoring team in the South Atlantic Conference. The Bulldogs also lead the SAC in field goal percentage and blocked shots per game.