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CHARLESTON, S.C. – The Wofford women’s basketball team couldn’t overcome 45 points from three College of Charleston players as the Terriers suffered their first loss of the season, 49-44, to the Cougars Monday night in the TD Arena in their Southern Conference Opener.
 
Wofford, who was receiving votes in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 Poll, falls to 6-1 overall and 0-1 in the SoCon, while CofC improves its record to 2-5 on the year and 1-1 in the conference.  The Terriers were one of 15 schools in the NCAA without a blemish on their record coming into Monday’s game.
 
Wofford broke a tie at eight with a Logan Morris jumper seven minutes into play, but the College of Charleston responded with a basket from Jazz Green to the tie game at ten.   The Terriers mounted a 9-3 highlighted by a Mariah Masalin jumper and back-to-back Morris jumpers to take a 19-11 lead with just under eight minutes to play in the half. 
 
A Cathryn Hardy basket sparked a 12-0 run for the Cougars as they pulled a head 23-19 with two and a half minutes to play.   An April Moorhouse layup thirty seconds later end a 5:38 scoring drought for the Terriers and cut the Cougar lead to 23-21.  Neither team could score over the remaining two minutes as CofC carried the 23-21 lead into the half.
 
Wofford was 23 percent from the floor, 20 percent from three (2-for-10) and 63 percent from the line, while the College of Charleston was 19 percent overall, 16 percent from three (1-for-6) and 80 percent from the line.  The Cougars shot 15 free throws in the half converting 12 of them, while the Terriers only went to the line eight times converting five.
 
Back-to-back-to-back jumpers by Daniella Motley coming out of the half put the Terriers up 27-23 just over two minutes into play.  The Cougars got their first points of the half with two free throws from Hardy at 16:24 and cut the Wofford lead to 27-25.
 
CofC tied the game at 27 with a layup from Hardy a minute later, and a Michele Merritt free throw ended a two minute scoring drought for both teams to give Wofford a 28-27 lead. 
 
The two teams traded three-points baskets before Hardy converted an old-fashion three-point play to put the Cougars up 33-31 with 11:52 to play.  CofC pushed their lead to four points, 36-32, with 10:22 to play on an Alyssa Frye three.   Wrightson trimmed the lead to two, 36-34, on a layup only to see Harris push the lead back to five points, 39-34, with just under eight minutes remaining with a three-point play. 
 
The Cougars pushed their to 43-35, before Masalin knocked down two free throws to make the score 37-43 with six minutes remaining, but a Hardy layup pushed the lead back to eight points, 45-37, with 4:21 left on the clock.
 
Wrightson converted a three-point play with 2:27 to play to make it, 45-41, but a Frye made a the front end of a one-and-one with 1:36 to remaining to give the Cougars a five-point lead, 46-41. CofC would hang on to the win as Frye, Harris and Hardy converted free throws to give the Cougars a 49-41 lead.  Wofford got a late free throw from Morris and a Motley layup to cut the lead to 49-44, but could finish the comeback in the final seconds as they fell 49-44.
 
Wofford finished the game 26 percent from the floor, 17 percent from three and 46 percent (130f-28) from the free throw line.  In the second half the Terriers went to the line 28 times, but were only able to convert 13 free throws.  CofC ended the gamed at 21 percent overall and from three, and 66 percent from the line (22-of-33).
 
Wrightson continued her double-digit streak with a team-high 13 points.  Wofford’s streak of six consecutive games with three or more players came to an as Wrightson was the lone Terrier with more than ten points.  Motley added nine points and nine rebounds, while Moorhouse grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.   Rachel Brittenham handed out a game-high five assists.
 
For the Cougars, Hardy scored a game-high 21 points.  She was 4-of-9 from the floor and 13-of-15 from the charity stripe.  Frye added 13 points, and Harris chipped in ten points.  Hardy, Frye and Harris scored 45 of the College of Charleston’s 49 points in the game.  Harris also earned a double-double with a game-high 19 rebounds.
 
The Terriers will look to rebound from the loss with a trip to Norfolk, Va. to play Old Dominion out of the Colonial Athletic Association in their next game on December 7 at 7 p.m.