Wildcats Make It 10 Straight vs. Eagles, Move into tie for 3rd Place with 66-53 Win

Thursday, February 28

Statesboro, Ga.

7 p.m.

Davidson College Athletics

at Ga. Southern

junior Mercedes Robinson registered her 16th career double-double on Thursday evening. (photo courtesy of PhotoBob, Inc.)

Wildcats Make It 10 Straight vs. Eagles, Move into tie for 3rd Place with 66-53 Win

2/28/2008 8:16:09 PM | Women's Basketball

Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID

Box Score

STATESBORO, Ga. -- Davidson's defense held Georgia Southern to 31.1 percent shooting and forced 25 turnovers, and junior Mercedes Robinson (Baltimore, Md.) registered her league-leading 13th double-double as the Wildcats captured their 10th straight win over the Eagles, 66-53, in Southern Conference women's basketball action on Thursday evening.

With the win, Davidson moved into a tie for third place with Georgia Southern at 12-5 in league play and ran its overall mark to 18-10. The Eagles fell to 16-12 overall.

With a win on Saturday against College of Charleston, Davidson will clinch the No.3 seed in the upcoming SoCon Tournament, Mar. 6-10.

Robinson exploded for a game-and career-high 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting. The junior also added 10 rebounds, six of them on offense. In addition to her excellent offensive game, Robinson also led a stout defensive effort with four steals and Davidson as a team pocket 15. The Wildcats took advantage of the 25 Eagle miscues by turning them into 27 points.

Davidson came out of the gates fast led by the superb play of Robinson. Behind Robinson's 10 early first-half points, including eight straight at one time, the 'Cats earned a 17-6 lead after the junior hit a turn-around jumper in the lane at the 10:42 mark. Robinson finished the half with 13 points and five rebounds.

From there, freshman Kelsey Cary (Anselmo, Calif.) took over as she came off the bench for eight first-half points, including hitting one of the Wildcats three treys in the half, to help push the Wildcat lead to 31-17 and 3:34 left in the half. The freshman was 3-of-5 from the field and went 5-for-6 from the charity stripe to earn 12 points and added six boards for the game.

Coming out of a media timeout, GSU ran off a 9-0 run to bring it within five points, the closest it got all game, before sophomore Monica Laune closed out the scoring with a layin off a steal for a 36-26 Davidson halftime advantage.

Davidson's defense stepped it up a notch through the first 12 minutes of the second half as it held Georgia Southern to nine points, including just five of them during a nine-minute stretch, and forced seven turnovers.

Though the Wildcats hit just one field goal over a seven-minute stretch during that time, they drained eight free throws in stretching their lead to 49-35 with 8:17 to go.

A Tiffany Brown jumper with 4:44 remaining, brought the Eagles to within seven points (49-42), but Davidson finished out the game by outscoring GSU, 17-11, to secure the 66-53 double-digit win.

GSU was led by Carolyn Whitney and Jessica Geiger's nine points apiece. Shawnda Atwood and Ashley Melson each recorded seven boards to lead the Eagles to a 40-38 margin on the glass.

The Wildcats close out the regular season with a noon tip-off against College of Charleston on Saturday at Belk Arena. They will also honor its three seniors, Danielle Hemerka (Blackwood, N.J.), Honna Housley (Riceville, Tenn.) and Katie Hamilton (Lilburn, Ga.), before the contest for their outstanding four-year playing careers at Davidson.

Game Notes: The Wildcats never trailed, leading by as many as 16 points... Davidson improved to 10-6 when winning by 11 or more points... The last Wildcat loss to GSU was Mar. 7, 2003... For the fifth straight year, Davidson has tallied at least 12 league wins... For the third straight game, Davidson used the free throw line to its advantage, going 17-for-21 and is shooting 81 percent the past three contests.