ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The No. 1 Wofford women's basketball team felt a fight from the No. 8 Western Carolina Catamounts at the Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville, but the Terriers utilized stout fourth-quarter defense to claim the 71-56 win Thursday morning. Wofford improves to 21-8 while Western Carolina falls to 9-21.
"I'm just really proud of our players," said head coach
Jimmy Garrity. "Western [Carolina]'s a good team. They're solid; they're physical. They're big, and they're strong. They guard well, and it definitely wasn't easy. We got that lead in the first half to double-digits at 10, and the third quarter was even. In the fourth quarter, I thought our defense and steals led to transition points and fast break points, which really was the difference."
The 21 wins are the second most in a season in program history. Wofford has won its opening game at the SoCon Tournament for a third-straight season.
The Terriers shot 42.9 percent (24-of-56) in the contest with seven made threes while holding WCU to 39.2 percent (20-of-51). Though outrebounded 36-29, Wofford showed out on the defensive end by forcing 21 turnovers. With only 11 giveaways, the Terriers earned a points off turnovers advantage of 12-5. Wofford also thrived down low, securing 10 more paint points, 32-22.
"It feels really great. I think we all know the tournament is about surviving and advancing," said senior forward
Lilly Hatton. "And we want to give all credit to Western. They are a good basketball team, and being the eight seed did not mean a guaranteed win. They're a great team, and anyone can beat anyone in this conference. And I think we came out pretty level-headed, and we understood we needed to just do what needed to be done to win."
Wofford was led by four Terriers in double-digits.
Rachael Rose netted 25 points on 8-of-15 shooting. This is her 16
th-straight game scoring double-digits, tying the program record set earlier this season by teammate
Jackie Carman. Rose has scored over 20 points in each of her last four contests. The sophomore added four rebounds, five assists and four steals, leading the team in the latter two categories.
Carman and
Helen Matthews each scored 11 points. Matthews added three assists, and Carman contributed a pair of steals.
Lilly Hatton scored 10 points, and she just missed a double-double with a team-leading eight boards. She added two blocks.
Annabelle Schultz delivered eight points and six boards.
Ja'Rae Smith scored four points, and
Abbey Crawford added two to round out Wofford's scorers.
The Catamounts won the opening tip and scored first, and the sides traded some blows early. But
Rachael Rose hit a three, preceding a
Jackie Carman free throw to give Wofford a 9-8 lead at the 6:17 mark that it ultimately would not relinquish. This sparked an eight-point run, but the Catamounts kept it close. Despite this, Carman drained a triple with a minute remaining to give Wofford a 20-14 lead after a quarter.
Rose opened the second quarter in style with a three, scoring Wofford's first seven points of the frame.
Annabelle Schultz and Rose combined to each hit a three within 30 seconds of one another later in the quarter, and Rose sank a pair of free throws in the final minute. But WCU hit a three with a little over 30 seconds left to make the halftime score 39-29 in favor of Wofford.
The Catamounts opened the third quarter with five-straight points and then posted an eight-point run later in the frame. But Wofford kept pace as both squads scored 17 points out of the half, keeping the margin at 10 and Wofford in front, 56-46, entering the final quarter.
The teams traded blows to open the quarter before a WCU layup. But
Helen Matthews drew a foul on a paint score and converted the three-point play, and then she added a layup out of a
Lilly Hatton steal to create a 13-point lead (63-50) with 4:18 to go. Wofford held on from there, as time ran out on the Catamounts, who committed seven of their 21 turnovers in the final 10 minutes of play. Wofford earned the 71-56 win in the SoCon Quarterfinals.
"After the third quarter, we really came together and were like, 'If we want to win this game, it's got to be from the defensive end,'" said Rose. "We struggled a little bit with rebounding in the first quarter, and that's kind of been our weakness throughout the season. But this is a new season now, and we can change our identity."
The top-seeded Terriers will square off against No. 4 UNCG in tomorrow's semifinal round. Tip-off against the Spartans is set for 11:00 a.m. at Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville.
