SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford women's basketball team protected its home court inside the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium Monday night with a 70-51 win over Southern Wesleyan. The win lifts Wofford to 4-2 on the season. SWU remains 0-6 as the game was an exhibition for the Warriors.
The result extends Wofford's win streak to four after dropping the first two contests of the season. The win streak is the longest for the Terriers since winning five in a row last season from Jan. 27 to Feb. 12.
"It's really great," said junior guard
Helen Matthews of the win streak. "We have a really tough schedule coming up with Davidson and App [State], so it's really good to go into that with some momentum."
The Terriers shot 40.0 percent from the field in the contest, better than the 34.6 percent clip of the Warriors. But SWU held the three-point advantage, shooting 23.8 percent to edge out Wofford's 21.4 percent. The key difference was the board battle, with the Terriers securing 45 total rebounds to SWU's 28. Of those 45 boards, 18 were offensive to create 12 second chance points.
Both defenses came ready to play, with each team committing at least 15 turnovers. Wofford made 15 while securing 22 takeaways from SWU. This led to 17 Terrier points off turnovers.
Four Terriers led the scoring efforts by scoring 11 points each. Freshman
Jessie Parish set a new career high with her scoring mark, and fellow youngster
Indiya Clarke tied her career best. They each added four boards, and both swatted their first-career blocks.
"It feels pretty cool," said Parish of her first-career double-digit outing. "When you're out there on the court you don't really notice it as much, so I'm just glad we got the team win."
Rachael Rose turned in her sixth consecutive outing with double-digit scoring. She notched three steals to lead the team, and her three assists tied for the team lead. The sophomore added seven boards.
Jackie Carman extended her double-digit scoring streak to seven in a row, dating back to last season. Her three assists also tied for the team lead, and she swiped two steals. The fifth-year senior pulled down a career-high-tying eight boards.
Helen Matthews also tied her career high with nine rebounds, leading the team. She added seven points.
Annabelle Schultz was the third and final Terrier to tie for the assist lead with three. She added two points.
Abbey Crawford scored six points, and
Sydnee Richetto added five. Richetto also swiped two steals.
Ja'Rae Smith posted four points, two steals and a career-high four rebounds. Freshman
Sophie Smith made her collegiate debut and scored her first points with two to round out Wofford's scoring. She added her first steal and three boards. For a second-straight game, every Terrier to play scored.
The sides traded blows a couple times early, but
Helen Matthews tied the contest with a layup before
Jackie Carman converted her own with 7:05 left in the first to put Wofford ahead for good at 6-4. Despite holding the lead the rest of the way, it was not easy for the Terriers as SWU put up a fight and kept things close. The score after a quarter was 16-9 in favor of Wofford.
The Warriors opened the second quarter with a three, but
Jessie Parish responded in kind with one of her own. And an
Indiya Clarke three-ball at the 4:02 mark lifted Wofford's lead into double-digits for the first time on the night at 28-16. But SWU would strike last before halftime with a layup in the final minute to make the score 31-20 in favor of the Terriers.
SWU once again scored first entering the second half, and from there the squads kept trading blows. A Warrior three-pointer cut the margin to seven before
Indiya Clarke knocked down one in response to make the score 42-32 with 4:21 remaining. But SWU converted a jumper to kick off a five-point run and pull within five at the 3:12 mark (42-37). Needed to stave off the pressure,
Rachael Rose splashed a trey to kick off a Wofford run of eight points.
Sydnee Richetto owned the other five points in the run, extending Wofford's lead back out to 50-37 with 2:06 to go. The defenses stepped up, and neither side scored again until a SWU bucket with 43 seconds left to make the score 50-39 entering the final frame.
The Warriors opened the fourth with a three-pointer, but Wofford again had an answer by way of a
Jessie Parish three-ball preceding a
Rachael Rose two. However, SWU kept riding its momentum with a nine-point run to pull within four (55-51) at the 5:54 mark.
Helen Matthews broke the run with a three-pointer, and the tide then shifted as the Wofford defense cranked into another gear. The Warriors were held scoreless for the final five-and-half minutes as the Terriers closed the affair on a season-high 15-point run.
Sophie Smith put home the final points of the contest by knocking down a pair of free throws to make the final score 70-51 for a Wofford victory.
The Terriers continue their four-game homestand on Wednesday against Davidson. The contest features a special 11:00 a.m. tip-off as Wofford hosts Education Day.
