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 Senior Tiffany Hamm hit the jumper to break the 58-58 tie against Davidson to spark an 8-0 run to end the quarterfinal game. |
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March 4, 2004
Charleston, S.C. - Trailing 58-54 with 2:29 left to play, the Catamounts of Western Carolina hit eight consecutive free throws and made two field goals in the final 2:05 to overwhelm the third seeded Davidson Wildcats 66-58 and earn a berth in the semifinals of the Southern Conference Tournament.
The Wildcats were up by six, 54-48, when a Jessica Mitchell jumper made the lead eight with 6:57 left to play. It turned out, however, that Mitchell's field goal was the last of the night for Davidson and Western Carolina evened the score when Jennifer Gardner hit a pair of free throws with 1:28 left to tie the game at 58. Just 42 seconds later a Davidson miss and a Western Carolina rebound led to a Tiffany Hamm 15-foot jumper that fell to give the Catamounts thier first lead since the 16:36 mark of the first half.
With 26 seconds left to play, WCU's Ki-Ki Glass took a charge from Davidson's Courtney Laird to recover possession for Western Carolina and a Lindsay Shade foul sent Christy Blackwell to the line, where she stretched the Catamount lead to four. Seven seconds later Davidson freshman Katie Hamilton committed a turnover and the subsequent Ashley Hallsted foul put Hamm on the line where she scored her 20th and 21st points of the night and put WCU up by six. Another scoreless Davidson possession put the ball back in the hands of Western's Yoneko Allen, who was fouled and hit the final two free throws of the night to seal the Catamount victory.
Hamm led the Catamount effort with 21 points and 10 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season as she leads the league in the category, while Gardner added 14 points and Allen contributed nine. Glass led playmaking with four assists to pass April Fleck (1998-01) on WCU's all-time list, now with 255 career assists. She also claimed a team-high six steals as the Catamounts forced 25 Davidson turnovers, while committing just a season-tying low 11 of their own.
The Wildcats were paced by Meghan Bryant's 12 points and 11 rebounds, while Kaite Hamilton added 10 points and dished off three assists.
With the win, Western Carolina improves to 13-16 overall and, for the first time, claims two victories in the SoCon Tourney to earn a berth in the Southern Conference semifinals against the 18-10 Lady Paladins of Furman University. The match-up between WCU and Furman is slated for 2:30 pm on Friday, Mar. 5, at the North Charleston Coliseum, and will be broadcast on Charter South. Live stats will also be available on the Southern Conference website - www.SoConSports.com
Quotes from Western Carolina Head Coach Beth Dunkenberger
"That's how we are capable of playing. We have been waiting a long time for this to happen. Last year we peaked a little early and this is a completely different transformation for us."
Quote from Tiffany Hamm regarding come backs
"We felt like if we could keep going at them that they could only withstand so many runs. We just never let up. It is so much fun right now. This team has got a lot of heart and we would love to go all the way."
Quotes from Davidson Head Coach Annette Watts
"We've done that a lot this year - froze up down the stretch. I thought we had overcome that at Furman. We never established a presence inside tonight, but we can't take away the great season we have had. Western had that (last year's loss) gnaw with them all year, now let it gnaw at us next year."
