SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford women's basketball team was locked in a battle with the rival Furman Paladins at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium on Saturday afternoon. After three tight quarters, the Terriers pulled away in the fourth for a 72-54 victory. Wofford improves to 13-10 overall, 8-1 in SoCon action. Furman drops to 14-10, 7-3 in league play.
 
With the win, the Terriers secure their first-ever season series sweep over the Paladins. Wofford had only beaten Furman twice in the same season once, securing a home and neutral site SoCon tournament victory back in 2008, but the Paladins secured a win on their own court in-between the two games. This is also only the second time Wofford has won back-to-back contests in the series, the first being the second meeting in 2019 (84-75) and the first meeting of 2020 (66-62).
 
"You just want to win your next game," said head coach Jimmy Garrity. "We just played together. When we can make shots, we're pretty good. Defensively, I thought we were really good to hold them to under 60 points. That's what out goal was. And at the end of the day, I thought we did a really good job of forcing them into turnovers, which led to some transition points. I'm just really proud of those guys and happy for them."
 
"It's very special," said senior guard Jackie Carman of the historic sweep. "There's a lot of firsts this year. We're making a lot of strides as a program, so it's a great feeling, and we've just got to keep it going."
 
Wofford extends its best-ever SoCon start to 8-1, with the eight wins enough to match that of the program's best-ever SoCon record of 8-6, set in the 2019-20 season.
 
Five is the magic number for streaks with these two teams after this afternoon's affair. Wofford's winning streak extends to five games with the result, the longest for the Terriers this season. It's the first five-game winning streak for the Terriers since winning five consecutive from Jan. 2-21, 2021. Furman's five-game winning streak comes to end with the Terriers' triumph.
 
The Terriers shot 44.1 percent overall in the contest, 32.4 percent from three-point range. The Paladins were held to just 34.4 percent, 22.6 percent from three. Though Furman won the glass, 32-29, the Terrier defense was stout, forcing 21 Paladin turnovers, with 11 of those coming in the first half. With 13 steals, Wofford capitalized on the Furman miscues for 25 extra points, 19 via the fast break. Each team tallied six blocks apiece, with the Terriers' six being a new game-high on the season.
 
"That's a big deal," said Garrity of the turnovers. "25 points off of turnovers, that's going to help you win games. I thought we were in the gaps; I thought we had active hands."
 
The Terriers were paced by Jackie Carman, one of three double-digit scorers on the day. After missing the first matchup of the teams in Greenville on Jan. 13 due to Covid protocols, the senior made up for it by tallying 21 points, the fifth 20-point performance by a Terrier this season and the third for Carman. This marks the third-straight contest in which a Terrier posted at least 20 points (Carman's 24 at UNCG and Matthews' 23 at Western Carolina). Carman was 7-of-16 shooting from the field, but the majority of her damage came via the three-ball, of which she was 5-of-14.
 
"We're pretty comfortable," said Carman. "Furman's a really good team. I didn't get a chance to get at them last time, so I just wanted to be aggressive and work in transition."
 
Missing the previous rivalry contest was a motivating factor for Carman this afternoon. "And just the fact that we could sweep them," added the senior. "We're at home, feeling good after coming off the road [with two wins]. So it was just a good confidence game for everyone."
 
Lilly Hatton added 15 points on a 50 percent shooting clip, going 5-of-10. She also secured five boards.
 
Niyah Lutz dropped 10 points in the affair, and with a team-leading nine rebounds, she was just shy of a double-double. Her seven assists also paced the team and tied her career-high, as she came close to a triple-double.
 
Reagan Rapert and Annabelle Schultz each tallied eight points. Rapert totaled five rebounds and four assists. Schultz added two boards and a steal. Helen Matthews touted six points and five boards. Her three steals tied her career-best and led the team.
 
Alexis Tomlin hosted a block party at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium, accounting for four of Wofford's six blocks to set a new career-high. She added four points and two boards.
 
Furman scored first, but the squads traded buckets before the Terriers got hot and jumped out. Three-straight triples from Reagan Rapert and Lilly Hatton (two-straight) put the Terriers on top 13-4 with 4:45 left. However, Furman responded with an eight-point run to end the half and pull within one point, 13-12 after the first frame.
 
Furman retook the lead by extending its run to 13 points to open the second quarter. However, the back-and-forth tilt continued when the Terriers came roaring back. Helen Matthews and Niyah Lutz each scored to tie the affair, and Annabelle Schultz knocked down a pull-up jumper at 7:10 to put Wofford back on top. The Paladins did not back down, though, retying the game before a Lutz layup put Wofford back in front. This sparked a second-point Wofford run, punctuated by a Jackie Carman three-ball at the 5:33 mark to give the Terriers a seven-point lead. Furman cut the lead to three after a trey with 46 seconds remaining, but the Terriers took momentum into the break after Matthews swiped a steal and dished to Lutz for an easy lay-in in the final seconds. Wofford led 34-29 at halftime.
 
After trading blows out of the break, Jackie Carman drained a trey at the 6:36 mark to put Wofford out by eight. The Paladins pulled back within two at the 2:04 mark, but Carman drilled a pair of consecutive triples to fend off the Furman comeback attempt. The Paladins would net a pair of free throws the conclude the quarter, but Wofford led 49-43.
 
Furman pulled back to within three points at 7:38, but the Terriers again remained resilient and pulled away once more. Buckets from Lilly Hatton and Annabelle Schultz, the later being a trey, extended the Wofford lead to eight. Furman's final push brought the Paladins to within five points with 3:42 remaining, but Wofford held them off with five-straight points, capped off by another Schultz triple. A Paladin jumper at the 2:27 mark would be their final points, as the Terriers then put the game to bed by scoring the final 10 points of the game. Reagan Rapert opened the run with a three-ball, and after some successful trips to the free throw line, Carman swished one final triple to conclude the contest. Wofford secured the triumph over Furman, 72-54.
 
"[Furman is] so talented, and they're so well-coached," added Garrity of his team's resilience. "We knew they were going to make some runs. And that's that grittiness you talk about. Things don't always go your way, but you've got to move on to the next play and show some toughness. I'm just super proud of their effort. At the end of the day, I just want a team that's together and just plays really hard, and that's what this group does."
 
Wofford remains home for the next three games, first hosting the Mercer Bears on Thursday, Feb. 17 at 7:00 p.m. This will be the Play 4 Kay pink game for the Terriers. Two days later, Wofford hosts Samford for Senior Day on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 2:00 p.m. The homestand concludes with the Terriers' third game in five days when they take on the UNCG Spartans on Monday, Feb. 21 at 7:00 p.m.