Wildcat Women Seek First SoCon Title; Play Wofford Thursday
2/27/2007 1:32:48 PM | Women's Basketball
Sports Information - Gavin McFarlin
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DAVIDSON, N.C. -- Winners of four of their last five regular-season games, the third-seeded Davidson women's basketball team starts its quest for their first-ever Southern Conference Championship title on Thursday against sixth-seeded Wofford (13-15) at the SoCon Tournament held at the North Charleston Coliseum in Charleston, S.C. from Feb. 27-Mar. 3.
Davidson finished the regular season with a school-best 22 wins to only seven defeats after a 71-66 road win at Furman on Sunday, Feb. 25. It was the Wildcats' 13th conference win, good for second-most in school history. They ended the season in a tie for third-place with UNC Greensboro in the SoCon standings, but the 'Cats won the tiebreaker by virtue of their win over Western Carolina, who earned the top seed, while UNCG lost both games to the Catamounts.
The top six seeds have byes in the first-round of play on Tuesday, Feb. 27. The Wildcats will play on Thursday in the quarterfinals, beginning 30 minutes after the conclusion of the 9 a.m. game. Wofford finished tied with Georgia Southern for fifth in the SoCon with a 7-11 record and a 13-15 overall mark. The 13 wins mark a six-game improvement from last year's 7-21 finish.
The Wildcats are 5-5 in quarterfinal games over their history. Last year saw the 'Cats defeat Elon in the quarters before bowing out of the tournament with a loss to UNCG.
Davidson and Wofford split their season series with the Wildcats winning the first one, 86-39 on Jan. 20, before dropping its only overtime game of the season at Wofford, 68-65, on Feb. 17. Despite falling the second time against Wofford, the Wildcats have won 10 of the past 11 meetings and own the all-time series by the count of 17-11.
In the first meeting, redshirt junior Katie Hamilton (Lilburn, Ga.) became the 10th player in program history to notch 1,000 points for a career when she hit back-to-back three-pointers to open the game. Davidson then went on to earn its largest SoCon win ever and the fourth largest win since the resurrection of the program in 1992-93.
The two squads have met twice in the tourney. The Terriers ended the Wildcats' 2000-01 season with a 76-62 triumph, but Davidson then returned the favor two years later with a 72-70 decision to close Wofford's 2002-03 campaign.
Hamilton leads the second-highest scoring team in the SoCon (70.5) with a 10.7 points per game average. She is also tops in the conference in three-point shooting at a 38.4 percent clip and hauls in an even five rebounds a game. The junior guard is coming off 13 and 14 point games at Appalachian State and Furman, while combining for 16 boards in the two wins.
Davidson uses a three-guard backcourt, with Hamilton joining senior Tia Washington (Charlotte, N.C.) and sophomore Kelly Gassie (Mt. Juliet, Tenn.). Washington is the sparkplug of the offense as she ranks in the SoCon top-10 in five categories. Gassie is expected to fill in opposite Washington for senior Jessica Mitchell (Wilkesboro, N.C.), who might see action off the bench if her swollen knee heals in time.
The Wildcats' frontcourt consists of senior Brynn Kelly (Spokane, Wash.) and junior Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.). Kelly has stepped her game up lately, scoring in double figures in her last four games while shooting over 50 percent (51.7).
Hemerka can score inside or outside, but has teamed up with Kelly for another scoring threat in the paint. The guard/forward is second on the team with a 9.8 ppg average and is tops in rebounding at 5.9 rpg. She has paced the team in rebounding 10 times and in 15 of her 28 games, she has registered six or more boards.
Wofford is led by preseason all-conference pick Kelsi Koenig along with Liz Miller and Jennifer Weurding. Koening is second to Miller (10.4) with a 10.3 points per game average and has a team-high 158 rebounds (5.6 per game). Weurding is the conference's all-time leading shot blocker with 247 for her career.
Miller closed out the year leading the team in scoring 12 times. She is also a threat from the outside with 42 three-pointers and a 35.9 field goal percentage from downtown. Miller displayed her scoring touch against the Wildcats, touching them for 15 and 13 points in the two contests. The sharp-shooter aslo hit a combined four three-balls.
Should the Wildcats advance, they would play in the semifinals on Friday at 2:30 p.m. The championship game will be played on Saturday, Mar. 3 at 2 p.m. on Comcast/Charter Sports Southeast. Every game played at the SoCon Tournament will be video streamed live on the internet on SoCon.tv. The radio broadcast of each Davidson game will also be heard on TEAMLINE, over the internet or the phone (800-846-4700, team code 1143).
