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 Senior Jennifer Gardner scored 21 on Thursday to give her a two-day total of 44 points in the SoCon Tournament. |
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March 4, 2005
Chattanooga, Tenn. - Senior forward Jennifer Gardner led the Lady Catamounts with 21 points as the sixth-seeded Western Carolina topped third-seed Furman, 66-56, in the quarterfinal round of the 2005 Kyocera Southern Conference Women's Basketball Championships at Maclellan Gymnasium.
Gardner finished with her 18th double-digit scoring effort this season and the sixth game with 20 or more points. She again just missed a double-double, gathering nine rebounds, while going a perfect 8-for-8 from the free throw line. The Norcross, Ga., native has tallied 44 points in two games in the tournament, four more than East Tennessee State's B.J. Banjo who has scored 40 in two games which included overtime on Wednesday.
Gardner's frontcourt classmate Sigita Maleraite hit four 3-pointers en route to 14 points with four rebounds for the Lady Catamounts while senior guard Ki-Ki Glass dished out a season-high 9 assists while not committing a single turnover.
But perhaps the biggest difference maker for the Lady Cats came in the form of freshman Chevon Keith. She finished with nine points and seven rebounds, all of which came a crucial times for WCU head coach Kellie Harper's squad.
"I am extremely proud of these young ladies. They came in and fought a very tough Furman team. We simply found a way to win, and that's what it is about in March," said Harper, who became Western's all-time winningest first-year head coach on Thursday night. "We made some shots and crashed the boards down the stretch. I feel like they (Furman) got a little tight when some of their shots didn't fall, fortunately for us."
Furman was led by senior Jen Nadalin with 18 points and eight boards, with Tommi Paris adding 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor.
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The second half saw the same see-saw action with neither team leading by more than four points. The game was tied five times over the first ten minutes of the final stanza before a Gardner lay-up gave the Lady Catamounts the lead for good with 8:03 left in regulation. WCU used a 12-1 run to turn a two-point deficit into a nine-point advantage late in the game.
From the five-minute mark until the final horn, WCU had five offensive rebounds, three by Keith that reset the shot clock and allowed the team to run out the game clock. Also, the Cats hit 5-of-6 free throws inside the final minute to ice the win and glide into the semifinal round.
Western Carolina shot 44.8 percent in the second half after shooting 30 percent in the first half for a combined 37.3 for the game. The Lady Paladins did the opposite switch, shooting 43.5 percent in the first half and 37.5 percent in the second, 40.4-percent overall.
 Senior guard Ki-Ki Glass dished out a season-high nine assists while not committing a single turnover in Thursday's win over #3 Furman. |
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"We missed some good shots and they made some big shots. But down the stretch we didn't keep them off the boards and I think that was the big difference," said Furman skipper Sam Dixon. "They got to the foul line and they are a great foul-shot shooting team. You can't consistently send them to the line and expect to win."
Western Carolina hit 70.6 percent (12-of-17) from the line while Furman, who led the SoCon from the charity stripe this season, only managed to shoot 66.7 percent (16-of-24).
With the victory, Western Carolina (16-13) advances to Friday's second semifinal game against Davidson beginning at approximately 2:30 p.m. in The McKenzie Arena. The first semifinal at Noon pits fifth-seeded Georgia Southern against eighth-seeded East Tennessee State. GSU topped UNC Greensboro and ETSU upset top-seeded Chattanooga to reach the semifinals. Both games will be televised live on Carolina-Sports Entertainment Television (C-SET). Check local listings for availability.
