Dec. 9, 2002
Savannah, Ga. - Junior Tiffany Hamm scored 14 points, while Miranda Long and Kala Greene added 13 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench, to lead Western Carolina to a 71-56 road victory over Savannah State Monday night at Tiger Arena. The Catamounts improve to 6-1 on the season, which is the best record by a Southern Conference team to date, while the Tigers fall to 1-7.
Western scored first on a Jennifer Gardner basket and built a seven-point advantage midway through the first half. However, Savannah State went on a 10-2 run over the next two and a half minutes to take a 25-24 lead with 7:21 left. Hamm drained a 3-pointer with 1:37 left before the break to give the Cats a 36-33 lead. Savannah State's Tiffany Stephens hit a layup with three seconds left to make the score 36-35 at the break.
The game remained close through the first five minutes of the second half, with the Tigers owning a 41-39 lead at the 15:08 mark. At that point, Western reeled off six straight points on a layup by Long and two baskets by Greene to take the lead for good. Savannah State got as close as five (51-46) with 11:01 left, but consecutive 3-pointers by Melissa Ervin and Hamm started a 9-0 run by the Cats to make the score 63-46 and put the game out of reach for the homestanding Tigers.
Hamm added six rebounds and four assists to go along with her team-high 14 points. Long, who was 5-of-7 from the field, had four rebounds and two steals, while Greene added six boards and a blocked shot. Ervin and Gardner also had impressive performances. Ervin was 3-of-4 from the field, all from 3-point range, in scoring nine points, while Gardner had eight points and a team-high seven rebounds. Janetta Heggins and Ki-Ki Glass paced the WCU defense with three steals each.
Savannah State was led by Stephens, who scored a game-high 17 points, and Kewanda Walker, who registered a double-double (11 points and 10 rebounds). The Tigers' Crystal Martin dished out eight of her team's 12 assists on the night.
Western held Savannah State to just 29.6 percent shooting in the second half (8-27), while the Cats shot am impressive 48.4 percent (15-of-31) in the final 20 minutes.
The Catamounts will be off until playing at Wake Forest on Dec. 18 at 11:30 am. Western is 11-7 all-time versus the Demon Deacons, including a 72-64 victory over Wake Forest last season.
