Freshman, Senior Duo Pace Wildcats to 81-78 Win in SoCon Opener

Monday, November 30

Greenville, S.C.

7:00 p.m.

Davidson College

Furman

Senior Alex Thompson scored 14 of her 22 points in the second half.

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

Freshman, Senior Duo Pace Wildcats to 81-78 Win in SoCon Opener

11/30/2009 10:28:36 PM | Women's Basketball

Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID

Box Score

GREENVILLE, S.C. — The duo of freshman Sophia Aleksandravicius (Pound Ridge, N.Y.) and senior Alex Thompson (Asheville, N.C.) combined for 50 points, including 14 during a game-changing 22-11 run to start the second half, and Davidson scored its first win with an 81-78 victory over Furman on Monday evening in both teams Southern Conference opener in women's basketball.

Davidson (1-6, 1-0 SoCon) held off a late Paladin rally in the closing minutes to secure its first win of the year and improve to 8-9 in SoCon openers since joining the league in 1993-94.

Leading 73-63 with 4:20 left, the Wildcats saw Furman (1-6, 0-1 SoCon) use a 13-4 run to cut the lead down to one, 77-76, with just 51 seconds left. But, Thompson and Jasmine Calin (Miami, Fla.) each hit a pair of free throws in the closing seconds to seal the win for Davidson.

Just six games into her collegiate career, Aleksandravicius showed why she was nationally ranked as one of the best players at her position by pouring in 28 points and pulling down 13 boards for the 'Cats' second double-double of the season. The freshman was 9-of-15 from the field, including draining her first career three-ball, and went 9-for-10 from the charity stripe. Of her 13 boards, six of them were on the offensive glass. The freshman also swatted away two shots and pocketed a couple of steals.

Thompson took care of the scoring on the perimeter, hitting 4-of-7 shots from behind the arc and draining 7-of-12 overall from the field. She was also 4-for-5 from the 15-foot line for 22 points, clipping the 20-point mark for the sixth time in her career.

The duo were instrumental in turning a 36-30 halftime deficit into a 52-47 lead behind a 22-11 run to open the second half. Davidson scored on 10 of its first 11 possessions to start the half, getting eight from Thompson and six from Aleksandravicius during the spurt.

Davidson went on to shoot 62 percent (18-29) in the second half and finished the contest at an even 50 percent. The 'Cats also were effective from behind the arc, canning 6-of-15 for a 40-percent clip.

The Wildcats later pushed their lead out to 11 points on a Aleksandravicius layup (73-62) with around five minutes to play, before Furman's Stephens nearly gave her team the lead back. The shooting guard, who netted a game-high 30 points, would score six straight after Aleksandravicius' layup, and poured in 15 points overall during the last five minutes. Stephen's netted the Paladins' last five points with under a minute, but her last-second attempt from behind the arc was off center giving the Wildcats the three-point win.

Stephens hit 7-of-16 shots and was nearly perfect from the charity stripe with a 14-of-16 showing. She also dished out seven assists and registered six rebounds. Kali Holtfreter scored 14 points to give the Paladins to players in double figures.

Junior Ashley Lax (Little Rock, Ark.) gave the Wildcats three scores in double figures with a nice all-around game of 11 points (5-of-9) two rebounds and three assists.

Davidson found itself in a hole to start things off as Furman raced out to a 15-4 lead and later pushed it out to 21-11 after Stephen's completed a three-point play. The Paladin guard had 10 first half points.

The Wildcats then got things rolling on the offensive side led by the strong inside play of Aleksandravicius. The freshman scored nine of the 'Cats next 11 points to bring the score to 30-22, and Thompson's three-point play later made it 30-25 with 3:44 left in the half.

Aleksandravicius set a season-best in points in the first half alone, pouring in 13. She helped the Wildcats to a 36-18 advantage in points in the paint for the game, while leading the bench to 37 total points compared to Furman's 19.

Davidson wraps up a season-long eight-game road trip with a stop at Western Carolina, Dec. 5, at 2 p.m.

Game Notes: The last time the Wildcats clipped the 50 percent mark for a game was at Furman last year in the regular-season finale ... Davidson has now won 12 of the last 14 meetings with Furman, including the last thee ... Tonight's game was the sixth time both teams have faced each other in league openers ... The 'Cats netted 26 points off of 19 Paladin turnovers ... the 51 second half points scored by Davidson was the most since it netted 57 at Appalachian State last year (12/6) ... Davidson, playing its seventh of eight straight road games to open the season, was playing its third game in the last four days.