Wildcat Bench Carries Women to Seventh Straight Road Win, 69-51
1/13/2007 12:24:08 PM | Women's Basketball
STATESBORO, Ga. -- Behind a bench that scored 32 points, led by junior Honna Housley's (Riceville, Tenn.) and freshman Julia Paquette's (Stockbridge, Ga.) 11 and 10 points, respectively, the Davidson women's basketball team ran its road win streak to seven straight with a 69-51 win at Georgia Southern in Southern Conference action on Saturday evening at Hanner Fieldhouse. Davidson moved its SoCon record to 5-1 and its overall mark to 14-3. GSU dropped to 7-10 overall with a league mark of 2-4.
Davidson's seven-game road win streak is the best in school history. The Wildcats recently had a school record for most wins in a row overall with 10. The 'Cats also improved its winning ways against
Davidson held a slim 9-8 lead in the early stages of the first half thanks to senior Jessica Mitchell (
Then at the 13:47 mark, the Wildcat bench turned up the intensity on defense with a lock-down full court press and scored 10 straight unanswered points in a little over a 20-second spurt to push the 'Cats advantage out to nine at 19-10.
Housley had the hot-hand early off the bench, draining two three-balls and scoring eight first half points, while Paquette banged down low for eights points in the post. Davidson's bench alone scored 23 of the Wildcats' 39 first half points and the Wildcats held a 39-29 lead at halftime. For the game, the 'Cats bench outscored the Eagles by the count of 32-12.
Housley got the Wildcats' second half started off with her season-high tying third three-pointer and later Mitchell's two free throws gave Davidson a 50-38 advantage with 13:13 remaining in the game. All 11 of Housley's points came from behind the arc. Mitchell paced the Wildcat offense with 13 points on 5-of-9 shooting, including a three-pointer, and a perfect 2-for-2 showing at the line. Davidson as a team shot 16-for-19 from the charity stripe (84.2 percent), marking the ninth time the Wildcats have hit at least 15 free throws in a game.
Davidson's defense took care of the rest, holding
The Wildcat defense forced 25 turnovers, the 10th time their defense has forced at least 20, and they came up with 20 steals. Four players had at least three steals, while three others pocketed two each. The Eagles were held to only a 29.5 field goal percentage, which was the fourth time Davidson has held an opponent to under 35 percent shooting on the year.
Davidson cleaned up on the glass as well, outrebounding the Eagles, 41-35. Junior Danielle Hemerka (
GSU was led by Carolyn Whitney's 14 points on 4-of-10 shooting, including a 2-for-4 performance from behind the three-line, and she hit all four of her free throws. Ashley Melson and Chequilla Jessie were next with nine points apiece.
The Wildcats now head to
