Hemerka Hits 1,000-Point Mark With Double-Double, 'Cats Win 50-40 at Elon

Monday, January 21

Elon, N.C.

7 p.m.

Davidson College Athletics

at Elon

Senior Danielle Hemerka (photo courtesy of Willis Glasglow - WG Sports)

Hemerka Hits 1,000-Point Mark With Double-Double, 'Cats Win 50-40 at Elon

1/21/2008 8:56:35 PM | Women's Basketball

Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID

Box Score
Will In Turn: Substance over Style

ELON, N.C. -- Senior Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.) registered her fifth career double-double with season highs of 20 points and 10 rebounds, while becoming the 11th Wildcat in program history to score 1,000 points for a career in leading the Davidson women's basketball team to a 50-40 conference win at Elon on Monday evening at Alumni Gym.

Davidson ran its win streak to three straight in improving to 11-7 overall and 5-2 in the Southern Conference. The win also marked the Wildcats' eighth straight against Elon in moving their all-time series record to 9-3. Elon fell to 6-13 overall and 2-6 in league play.

In front of friends and family members who made the trek down from Blackwood, N.J., Hemerka had one of her best games of the season. She finished 9-of-13 from the field and 2-for-4 from long range for her third 20-point game of her career. Hemerka hauled in an even five rebounds on both the offensive and defensive side for 10 rebounds for the first double-double of the season.

Hemerka's 1,000th and 1,001st points came at the end of a 13-3 run when she stepped back from the free throw line and drained a shot from the top of the key that gave the Wildcats a commanding 44-32 lead with 8:57 to go in the game. Davidson did not allow Elon to get any closer than eight points the rest of the way for the 10-point win.

Davidson's run came right after Elon rattled off an 11-3 spurt of their own to start the second half that brought the Phoenix to within two at 31-29.

Four shots from long range lead the Wildcats to a 15-7 lead with 9:47 left on the clock in the first stanza. Sophomore Alex Thompson (Asheville, N.C.), junior Mercedes Robinson (Baltimore, Md.) and the senior duo of Katie Hamilton (Lilburn, Ga.) and Hemerka each hit a trey as the Wildcats finished 5-of-11 for the half from three-point land.

Hamilton, who missed the previous two games, added one more three-pointer in the second half. She was very effective off the bench, scoring eight points in just seven minutes of action.

Leading by eight in the first period, Hemerka then took over and scored nine of the Wildcats' last 12 points of the half as Davidson went into intermission up 27-18. She finished 5-of-7 from the field and 2-for-3 from behind the arc for 12-first half points.

Kitara McMoore led Elon with 14 points and six rebounds, while Tierra Bumbrey was second on the team with eight points, six of them from behind the arc.

Davidson's defense was its usual stout self, holding Elon to 26.4 percent shooting for the game on just 14-of-3 shooting. The Wildcats also won the rebounding battle, 37-31.

Davidson returns home for its next two contests, starting with a 2 p.m. affair against Wofford on Saturday, Jan. 26 at John M. Belk Arena. The Wildcats have won 11 of the past 12 meetings in the all-series against the Terriers.

Game Notes: Davidson shot 43.5 percent for the game, marking the third straight game its hit better than 40 percent of its field goals ... the Wildcats held a 17-10 advantage in second chance points ... Thompson had a nice overall game with five points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals ... with Hamilton's eight points, she has now scored 1,151 for her career ... Davidson improved to 3-0 in conference road games and has not allowed over 60 points in any of the games.