Wildcats Primed and Ready For Southern Conference Tournament

DAVIDSON, N.C. — The Davidson women's basketball team will be in search of their first Southern Conference title when they open up tournament play on Saturday, Mar. 7 against fourth-seeded College of Charleston in Chattanooga, Tenn.

The Opening Tip
Davidson (12-17, 11-9 SoCon) enters the 2009 SoCon Tournament having won three of their final five regular season games. College of Charleston (21-7, 14-6 SoCon), comes into the tournament winners of its past four straight, and 13 of its last 15 games overall.

The All-Time Series...
... has seen Davidson dominate as of late. Though the Wildcats' 13-game win streak was snapped back on Jan. 12, and it was swept in the regular season, the 'Cats still own the series, 20-6.

The two squads have met twice in the tourney, with the most recent matchup occurring during the 2004-05 season. Davidson earned a 20-point quarterfinal win in that game.

Last Meeting...
... College of Charleston's senior Nikki Williams hit one-of-two free throws with four-tenths of a second left in her final home game, and Davidson scored just six points in the last 11 minutes of the game, allowing the Cougars to come back from 10 down for a 54-53 win.

In the first meeting, CofC's Jade Hughes stole a misguided Wildcat pass with 25 seconds left and drove down the floor for a layup to give the Cougars a one-point lead and eventually the win as Davidson saw its perfect run in the Southern Conference come to an end with a 74-71 setback.

Tournament History
Davidson has played in every round of the tournament at least once, here's a look at how the Wildcats have fared in each round:

First round: 2-2
Quarterfinals: 6-6
Semifinals: 1-6
Finals: 0-1

Davidson is still shooting for its first SoCon Tournament title. If the 'Cats can win two games to make it to the championship game, it would mark the first time since the 1998-99 season that Davidson has made it to the finals when it fell to Appalachian State that year.

Scouting the Wildcats
Davidson enters the 2009 Southern Conference Tournament having won three of its final five regular season games. It finished out the regular season with a win at Furman, Feb. 28, to earn the fifth seed.
The Wildcats, 12-17 overall, finished with an 11-9 conference record, putting them in a tie for fifth place with Georgia Southern, which lost at Appalachian State in its final game. The Wildcats' won the tiebreaker by virtue of their season-series sweep of the Eagles to claim fifth place.

The 11 league wins made it six years in a row a Wildcat squad has won that many.

To close out the regular season, Davidson overcame a two-point deficit in the last five minutes at Furman to take home a 66-63 road win, and earn the season-series sweep, its third of the year. The comeback in the last five minutes was just Davidson's second this year.

The Wildcat' starting rotation has been fairly constant this season, with the one change in the last five games being Monica Laune replacing Julia Paquette, who has started 22 games this year. The 'Cats have gone 3-2 with Laune in the lineup and are averaging 68 points, with five players averaging double figures in points during that time. Four of the probable five starters for Davidson have started at least 27 of the 29 games this year.

Junior Mercedes Robinson leads the way for the Wildcats as she looks to carry her stellar senior campaign into the tournament. Named to both the media and coaches All-SoCon First Teams earlier this week for the second straight year, Robinson paces the team with 14.6 and 9.7 averages in points and rebounds per game. Besides ranking third and first, respectively, in both categories in the league, the forward has tallied a league-best 15 double-doubles on the season.

This year, Robinson has hit for double figures in points 23 times, hitting the 20-point plateau four times as well as going off for a career-best 30 points in a game against College of Charleston, Jan. 12.
The senior became the 12th Wildcat in program history to hit the 1,000-point mark, and currently sits in eighth place all-time with 1,096 points. She is third in total rebounds with 762 and set the school's single-season record with 281 boards this year.

Joining Robinson in the front court is fellow senior Mandy Halbersleben. The senior forward has had a career year, setting personal bests in nearly every category, including points and rebounds.

The Wildcats' backcourt consists of the sharp-shooting duo of junior Alex Thompson and sophomore Ashley Lax. The tandem are first and second in made three-pointers with 66 and 63, respectively, in the SoCon. Lax, second on the team with a 13.3 ppg average, is 5th in the league in three-point accuracy at 41.5 percent and set the single-season school record with her 66 treys. She is averaging 14.3 points against league foes and has scored in double digits 14 of the past 15 contests.

Thompson runs the offense from the point for Davidson and ranks third in the SoCon with a 3.7 assists per game average. Besides dishing the ball out, the junior can fill the nets too, highlighted by her career-best 11.4 points per game average. Earlier this year the junior tied a school record with a 35-point out-put at App. State.

Laune and Paquette have both thrived in their roles lately with each averaging over 10 points a game in the last five contests. Laune was inserted in the starting lineup vs. Chattanooga, Feb. 14, and responded with a career-high 20 points in the Wildcats win.

Paquette has been averaging 10 points and six boards since coming off the bench, and shooting a blistering 72 percent. She ranks 4th in the conference with a 49.8 field goal percentage.

The Wildcats four freshmen have also played a key role this year, with three of them having seen action in at least 26 of the 29 games.

Davidson's offense has been ranked in the top-five of the league the majority of the season. They are third in scoring at 65.8 ppg, while shooting 41.1 percent from the floor, second-best in the SoCon. In the final five games of the regular season, the Wildcats hit the 50 percent mark in four of the contests, including shooting a season-best 54.2 percent at Furman to close out the regular season.

Scouting the Cougars
College of Charleston, the fourth seed, comes into tournament play winners of four straight, and 13 of its last 15 games. The Cougars closed out the regular season with home wins over App. State and Davidson to hit the 21-win plateau. They finished fourth in the standings at 21-7 overall and 14-6 in SoCon action. The Cougars had held third place most of the second half of the season, but Western Carolina overtook them in the last weeks of the season to grab the third seed.

CofC's defense was on display in its final four games, holding all four opponents to an average of just 51 points. On the year, the Cougars rank third in the league by allowing 59 points a game and holding the opposition to 38.2 percent shooting.

Coaches all-conference first-team members Tonia Gerty and Jade Hughes pace the Cougar attack with 11.6 and 11.0 point per game averages. The duo were also named to the media's second and first teams, respectively. In her two meetings against Davidson, Gerty combined to score 25 points and dish out eight assists. She ranks second in the league with her 3.9 assists per contest average.

Hughes, who was awarded the Ann Lashley Inspiration Award by the league coaches, netted a combined 33 points against Davidson in two contests, including 19 at Davidson, Jan. 12. She had a key steal in the closing seconds that help give CofC the 74-71 win. The junior sits in third place in the SoCon in free throw percentage (.850) and fifth in assists (3.5).

Other key contributors are Brooke Kotcella, who ranks among the SoCon top-10 in three-point accuracy (3rd, .430), while Sarah Moye and Nikki Williams provide the muscle on the blocks with 181 and 170 rebounds for averages of 6.5 and 6.3, respectively.

Last year at the SoCon tournament, CofC advanced to the semifinals where it dropped a 68-53 decision to Chattanooga.

Up Next
With a win over College of Charleston, Davidson would next play the winner of game five (No. 1 Chattanooga vs. No. 8 Furman/No. 9 Appalachian State) on Sunday in the semifinals at 12:00 on SportSouth.

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