Junior Danielle Hemerka had her second 20-point game of her career in leading the Wildcats to a 67-55 season opening win.
'Cats Open Women's Basketball Season With 67-55 Victory
11/12/2006 11:09:51 AM | Women's Basketball
Box Score
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Junior Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.) helped the Davidson women's basketball team get off to a solid start to the 2006-07 season with a game-high 20 points and the Wildcats held UNC Asheville to 29 percent shooting in picking up a 67-55 win on Sunday afternoon in Belk Arena. Davidson opens the season at 1-0, while UNCA starts at 0-1.
The game was Davidson's first home season-opener since the 1993-94 campaign, while the win was its first in a home season-opener since a 64-40 win over Ferrum on Dec. 12, 1992. The Wildcats also improved to 5-10 overall in season openers since the resurrection of the program in 1992-93.
Despite shooting only 30 percent from the field in the first half, the Wildcats led the majority of the contest. They finished at a 36.1 percent click in the game, while holding UNCA to a 20-of-69 shooting performance from the field, including 5-of-21 from behind the arc. Davidson's defense held UNCA to only a 22.6 percent shooting performance in the first half.
Katie Barton gave the Bulldogs a brief 5-0 advantage in the first two minutes of play, but Davidson took over from there, starting with back-to-back threes from senior Jessica Mitchell (Wilkesboro, N.C.) and junior Katie Hamilton (Lilburn, Ga.), and used a 13-0 run over the next five minutes to jump out to a 13-5 lead with 12:55 to go in the first half.
Later, UNC Asheville cut the lead down to four, 19-15, on a layup from Ana Baker with 6:55 on the clock, but Davidson answered back with a 7-0 run pushing its lead out to double-digits for the first time at 26-15 after Hemerka hit two free throws at the 3:41 mark. The Wildcats added four more points before the half and would go into halftime up 30-18.
After UNC Asheville got to within nine to start the second period, the Wildcats opened up their biggest lead of the game at 18 points, 46-28, when sophomore Mercedes Robinson (Mansfield, Texas) laid one up and in with 11:59 to go in the game.
Davidson maintained at least a 10-point advantage the rest of the way and hit 11-of-12 free throws in the second half to secure the 67-55 season opening win.
Hemerka finished 5-of-10 from the field, including hitting two three-pointers and helped Davidson to go 18-for-21 from the charity stripe by matching her career-high with an 8-for-10 showing. The junior also hauled in a team-high eight boards in leading the Wildcats to a 49-43 edge on the boards.
Also finishing in double figures for the Wildcats was the senior duo of Brynn Kelly (Spokane, Wash.) and Mitchell. Kelly had 11 points and six rebounds, while Mitchell was 5-of-7 from the field and 2-of-3 from behind the arc for 12 points. She also chipped in with four steals and three assists.
The Bulldogs placed three players in double-figures, led by Brittany Hendley's 14 points, nine of them coming from three-point land. Amanda Elder had a double-double, scoring 12 points to go along with her game-high 11 rebounds.
Davidson will now embark on a six-game road trip starting on Friday, Nov. 17 with a trip to East Tennessee State at 7 p.m. before heading to Athens to play nationally ranked Georgia, on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 2:30 p.m.
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Junior Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.) helped the Davidson women's basketball team get off to a solid start to the 2006-07 season with a game-high 20 points and the Wildcats held UNC Asheville to 29 percent shooting in picking up a 67-55 win on Sunday afternoon in Belk Arena. Davidson opens the season at 1-0, while UNCA starts at 0-1.
The game was Davidson's first home season-opener since the 1993-94 campaign, while the win was its first in a home season-opener since a 64-40 win over Ferrum on Dec. 12, 1992. The Wildcats also improved to 5-10 overall in season openers since the resurrection of the program in 1992-93.
Despite shooting only 30 percent from the field in the first half, the Wildcats led the majority of the contest. They finished at a 36.1 percent click in the game, while holding UNCA to a 20-of-69 shooting performance from the field, including 5-of-21 from behind the arc. Davidson's defense held UNCA to only a 22.6 percent shooting performance in the first half.
Katie Barton gave the Bulldogs a brief 5-0 advantage in the first two minutes of play, but Davidson took over from there, starting with back-to-back threes from senior Jessica Mitchell (Wilkesboro, N.C.) and junior Katie Hamilton (Lilburn, Ga.), and used a 13-0 run over the next five minutes to jump out to a 13-5 lead with 12:55 to go in the first half.
Later, UNC Asheville cut the lead down to four, 19-15, on a layup from Ana Baker with 6:55 on the clock, but Davidson answered back with a 7-0 run pushing its lead out to double-digits for the first time at 26-15 after Hemerka hit two free throws at the 3:41 mark. The Wildcats added four more points before the half and would go into halftime up 30-18.
After UNC Asheville got to within nine to start the second period, the Wildcats opened up their biggest lead of the game at 18 points, 46-28, when sophomore Mercedes Robinson (Mansfield, Texas) laid one up and in with 11:59 to go in the game.
Davidson maintained at least a 10-point advantage the rest of the way and hit 11-of-12 free throws in the second half to secure the 67-55 season opening win.
Hemerka finished 5-of-10 from the field, including hitting two three-pointers and helped Davidson to go 18-for-21 from the charity stripe by matching her career-high with an 8-for-10 showing. The junior also hauled in a team-high eight boards in leading the Wildcats to a 49-43 edge on the boards.
Also finishing in double figures for the Wildcats was the senior duo of Brynn Kelly (Spokane, Wash.) and Mitchell. Kelly had 11 points and six rebounds, while Mitchell was 5-of-7 from the field and 2-of-3 from behind the arc for 12 points. She also chipped in with four steals and three assists.
The Bulldogs placed three players in double-figures, led by Brittany Hendley's 14 points, nine of them coming from three-point land. Amanda Elder had a double-double, scoring 12 points to go along with her game-high 11 rebounds.
Davidson will now embark on a six-game road trip starting on Friday, Nov. 17 with a trip to East Tennessee State at 7 p.m. before heading to Athens to play nationally ranked Georgia, on Sunday, Nov. 19 at 2:30 p.m.
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