CULLOWHEE, N.C. --  The Wofford College women's basketball team responded to adversity in a major way, outscoring the opponent 39-14 in the final 20 minutes, to earn a 63-55 win over the Western Carolina Catamounts in the Ramsey Center on Saturday afternoon.
 
After trailing by 17 headed into the break, Wofford (8-19, 3-9 SoCon) put everything together in the second half. The team came out firing, starting with an 8-2 run to open up the final 20 minutes. After a layup from Western's Brianne Mack, Chanel Stokes hit a three before a string of Catamount fouls gave Wofford opportunities at the stripe.
 
The Terriers made a point of attacking the lane, drawing six team fouls before the first media timeout of the second half.
 
At the 16:10 mark, the Terriers pulled within five, as back-to-back three's from Maria Corella and Stokes made the score 45-40. Western Carolina (9-17, 1-11 SoCon) tried to pull back, but the Terriers allow the Catamounts an inch on defense. With 14:36 remaining, Sherae Bonner hit a free throw to give Western an 8-point lead. From there, the Terriers held the Catamounts scoreless for over 6 minutes, pulling the game within three points.
 
A pair of back-to-back Corella three's with just over six minutes remaining marked the tipping point, where the Terriers finally took the lead for the first time. Corella's final deep ball gave Wofford the edge, and sparked 9-2 Terrier run to finish out the remainder of the game.
 
With the win over Western Carolina, Wofford has locked up the No. 6 seed heading into the Southern Conference tournament, and will likely face either Samford or Mercer in the first round.
 
For the Terriers, Jordan led all Terrier scorers with 17 points. The junior had a few clutch buckets, going 8-of-16 from the field including one deep ball. Corella came in next, finishing with 14 on 5-of-9 shooting and three 3-pointers. Sophomore forward Grayson Pinholster led Wofford's rebounding efforts, grabbing eight off the glass.
 
In the second half, Wofford held the Catamounts to an abysmal 19.2 percent shooting, allowing only 5 of the teams 26 shots to find the bottom of the net. A large part of the second half success came in shutting down Justin Taylor. The senior, who leads the Catamounts in scoring regularly, was held to just 1-of-10 in the final 20 minutes for two points – Taylor finished the night with a game-high 18.
 
The first half looked far different, and the Terriers hopes looked bleak at the end of the first twenty minutes. Frequent trips to the free throw line allowed Western to capitalize, and the team finished the opening stanza a perfect 17-of-17 from the charity stripe. The opportunities from the stripe, coupled with four 3-point field goals from Western's Makensey Campbell made for a tough challenge for the Terriers to overcome, but overcome they did.
 
Wofford continues the road stand on Monday, taking on UNC Greensboro. The two teams clash in Greensboro, N.C. at 7:00 p.m.