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Food Lion SAC Women's Basketball Championship
Semifinals Summary: Wingate, Carson-Newman Advance to Title Game |
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Carson-Newman 68, Mars Hill 59 Wingate 67, Newberry 53 HICKORY, N.C. --- Wingate University's junior center Veronica Taylor (Columbia, SC) and sophomore guard Tanetra Barrett (Marshville, NC) combined for 38 points to lead the top seeded Bulldogs to a 67-53 victory over the #5 seed Newberry College Lady Indians in the semifinals of the 2005 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament held at the Catawba Valley Community Center Saturday afternoon. Wingate advances to tomorrow's championship game at 2:00 pm against the winner of #2 seed Carson-Newman College and #6 seed Mars Hill College. The first half was closely contested as the game was tied twice and had five lead changes before intermission. The Bulldogs held a four point lead on three different occasions early in the half before going on a 10-5 run to push the lead to 29-20 at the 3:27 mark on a three-pointer by Barrett. Barrett keyed the Wingate run with eight of the team's 10 points. Wingate pushed the lead to its largest margin of the first half at 31-20 on a layup by sophomore forward Kerri Metzker (Charlotte, NC) with 2:47 remaining before Newberry's junior guard Jonelle Yaklich (LaSalle, IL) hit a three-pointer to trim the lead to 32-23 entering halftime. The Bulldogs shot 41.4% from the field in the first half and were led in scoring by Barrett's 10 points. WU's Taylor led all scorers with a first double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds. Newberry struggled to shoot 21.6% from the field and were led in scoring by freshman guard Monica Alexander (Norcross, GA) shot tallied eight points on three-of-seven shooting from the field. The Lady Indians came out in the second half and put together a 16-7 run keyed by six points from freshman forward Tonique Frasier (Walterboro, SC) to trim the Bulldog lead to 40-39 with 12:10 remaining. The Lady Indians had four straight possessions to retake the lead, but came up empty. Wingate responded with a 6-0 run to extend the lead back to seven points at 53-46 on a jumper by Barrett with 3:42 remaining in the game. The Bulldogs closed the game on a 14-7 run including 12-of-13 at the free throw to seal the 67-53 victory. Wingate was led on the day by Taylor's 21 points and 18 rebounds while Barrett added 17 points and three steals. Sophomore forward Lankin Byer (Bassett, VA) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 points off the bench. Newberry was led by freshman forward Carnicha Bellinger (Greenville, SC) who tallied a double- double of 17 points and 10 rebounds while Alexander chipped in 10 points. Wingate improves to 20-9 on the season while Newberry falls to 18-11. QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH JOHNNY JACUMIN: "We might have had the gitters a little bit to start the game. We tried to loosen them up with some jokes during pre-game. At halftime, I thought we were in good shape. We were able to stop their big kids and in the second half they got some penetration. We mixed up some defenses on them, and the fouls at the end made the game not as close as it was. This is our third year in a row in the championship game, but we haven't won one yet." QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH JASON BRINK: "It was a tale of two halves … In the first half, we simply didn't show up … The second half was much different, we demonstrated much higher intensity." NEWBERRY (18-11): Bellinger, Carnicha 5-14
4-4 17; Alexander, Monica 4-8 2-4 10; Frasier, Tonique 3-8 3-6 9;
Banda, Laura 2-11 0-0 5; Deese, Tonya 2-7 1-2 5; Stewart, Chance 1-3
0-0 3; Yaklich, Jonelle 1-8 0-0 3; Cooks, Taquala 0-5 1-4 1; Green,
Elizabeth 0-1 0-0 0; Wright, Ashlee 0-1 0-0 0; Dinges, Karisa 0-1 0-0
0; Hollingsworth, Tasha 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-68 11-20 53. Newberry...................... 23 30 - 53 3-point goals-Newberry 6-21 (Bellinger, Carnicha 3-4; Yaklich, Jonelle 1-8; Stewart, Chance 1-2; Banda, Laura 1-6; Deese, Tonya 0-1), Wingate 4-16 (Barrett, Tanetra 2-2; Abraham, Javarus 1-6; Nagy, Petra 1-7; Metzker, Kerri 0-1). Fouled out--Newberry-Banda, Laura; Bellinger, Carnicha, Wingate-None. Rebounds-Newberry 39 (Bellinger, Carnicha 10), Wingate 52 (Taylor, Veronica 18). Assists-Newberry 10 (Alexander, Monica 3; Cooks, Taquala 3), Wingate 10 (Taylor, Veronica 4). Total fouls-Newberry 23, Wingate 10. #1 Wingate advances to SAC CHampionhsip game - 2:00 PM tomorrow. Carson-Newman 68, Mars Hill 59 Hickory, N.C. – Carson-Newman’s Brooke Johnson (Seymour, Tenn.) scored a game-high 22 points and added nine rebounds and four blocks as the Lady Eagles advanced to the finals of the 2004-05 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament with a 68-59 win over Mars Hill Saturday evening. The Lady Eagles, the number two seed in the SAC Tournament, will face top-seeded Wingate in the finals on Sunday, March 6, 2005 at 2 p.m. Carson-Newman improves to 22-7 on the season. Mars Hill ends their season at 14-15. In addition to Johnson’s 22 points, Gabby Smith (Franklin, Ky.) scored 15 points, Tiffany Parker (Newnan, Ga.) added 12 points and Giovanni Booker (Orlando, Fla.) finished with 10 points. The Lions were led in scoring by Kristi Farris (Knoxville, Tenn.) who had 14 points. Jessica Blanford (Concord, N.C.) scored 11 points and Lindsey Jones (Crossville, Tenn.) and Laura Snider (Old Fort, N.C.) each added 10 points. The game was close for most of the first half as the biggest lead enjoyed by either team was five points as C-N built a 16-11 lead on two Smith free throws at the 7:48 mark. The Lady Eagles led 27-24 at the half. The Lady Eagles extended their lead to 37-28 at the 14:44 mark of the second half when Smith took a pass from Gooch for a lay-up. But from there, the Lady Lions made a run and took a 43-42 lead when Snider nailed a three-pointer with 8:39 remaining in the game. From that point, the Lady Eagles went on a 15-2 run to build a comfortable lead with 5:39 remaining on two Johnson free tosses. The Lady Lions cut the lead to 59-54 on a Jones jumper with 2:22 left but could get no closer. Gooch capped the scoring with a free throw nine seconds before the end of the half as C-N advanced to the finals with a 68-59 win. “We did a good job of executing down the stretch,” C-N head coach Dean Walsh said. “Our focus coming into the tournament has been to cut down on the turnovers and to focus on all aspects of the game. We did a good job with the turnovers as we only had 11.” Smith said the Lady Eagles have refocused to begin the post-season. “Everyone has to step up come tournament time. This team has gelled very well all season and now we get a chance to play Wingate for the conference championship tomorrow.” “We made too many mental mistakes tonight to beat a very good team like Carson-Newman ” Mars Hill head coach Mandy Mattox said. “We thrive off our defense and we like to run and Carson-Newman did a good job changing our game plan.” CARSON-NEWMAN 68, MARS HILL 59 Mars Hill..................... 24 35 - 59 3-point goals-Mars Hill 6-12 (Snider, Laura 2-3; Ferris, Kristi 2-4; Blanford, Jessica 1-1; DeBusk, Abby 1-3; Jones, Lindsey 0-1), Carson-Newman 1-10 (Smith, Gabrielle 1-1; Booker, Giovanni 0-1; Gooch, Brittaney 0-5; Clark, Renita 0-2; Johnson, Brooke 0-1). Fouled out--Mars Hill-Jones, Lindsey, Carson-Newman-Parker, Tiffany. Rebounds-Mars Hill 43 (DeBusk, Abby 9), Carson-Newman 28 (Johnson, Brooke 9). Assists-Mars Hill 10 (Davis, Crystal 3; Jones, Lindsey 3), Carson-Newman 9 (Smith, Gabrielle 4). Total fouls-Mars Hill 21, Carson-Newman 15. A-1518 |
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