W. Basketball Earns No. 6 Seed For SoCon Tourney, Draws Furman on Thursday Evening

DAVIDSON — Fresh off closing out the regular-season with a 65-52 win over Furman on Saturday, the Davidson women's basketball team earned the No. 6 seed in the upcoming Southern Conference Tournament in Charlotte, N.C., and will square off vs. the No. 11-seeded Paladins on Thursday, Mar. 4.

The Opening Tip
Davidson (14-14, 12-8 SoCon) enters the 2010 SoCon Tournament having won two of their final three regular season games. Furman (6-23, 4-16 SoCon), comes into the tournament having dropped its last 10 games.

The Wildcats will play the third game of the day, roughly 30 minutes after the conclusion of game two, No. 8 Western Carolina vs. No. 9 UNC Greensboro, which follows the first game of the day featuring No. 7 Wofford vs. No. 10 Elon at 1 p.m.

SoCon Tournament
The first two rounds of the tournament will be held at the Bojangles' Coliseum and then the tournament moves to Time Warner Arena for the semifinals and championship game. The semis and championship game will be televised on SportSouth.

Radio
Thursday's contest as well as all of the Davidson women's basketball games during the tournament will be broadcast on teamline by Derek Smith, Ray Francis and Leslie Urban, and can also be followed on the SoCon Tournament live stats.

The All-Time Series...
... has seen Davidson dominate as of late. The Wildcats have won the last four, and 13 of the past 15 overall meetings. Furman still leads the series, 26-22.

Davidson and Furman have met twice in SoCon Tournament play, with Furman having won the last encounter, a 73-56 decision, in 2000 first round action en route to the tournament championship. Davidson won the first meeting back in 1999, with a 62-56 first round victory.

The Wildcats swept the Paladins in the regular season with 81-78 and 65-52 wins.

Last Meeting...
... has seen Davidson dominate as of late. The Wildcats have won the last four, and 13 of the past 15 overall meetings. Furman still leads the series, 26-22.

In the last meeting, shooting guard Ashley Lax finished one point off her career-high, dropping in a game-best 24 points and Davidson used a 19-4 run in the second half to open up a 20-point lead to close out the regular season with a 65-52 win on Senior Day.

Lax drained a career-best seven three-balls, getting six of them in the first half when she helped the Wildcats turn a 19-12 lead into a 30-12 advantage with 2:18 left in the half. She finished 8-of-14 overall from the floor and 7-of-10 from behind the arc.

The first half saw Lax can 6-of-10 shots, with all six made field goals coming from three-land.

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: 6-7
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 2010 Southern Conference Tournament having won two of its final three regular season games. It finished out the regular season with a win over Furman, Feb. 27, to earn the sixth seed.
The Wildcats, 14-14 overall, finished with a 12-8 conference record. The 12 league wins made it seven years in a row a Wildcat squad has won that many.

To close out the regular season, Davidson rode the hot first-half shooting of Ashley Lax and then used a 19-4 run in the second half to earn a 65-52 home win and earn the season-series sweep, its fourth of the year. The win was the 'Cats fourth straight in the all-time series.

The first half saw Lax can 6-of-10 shots, with all six made field goals coming from three-land as Davidson led from beginning to the end on its way to a 37-20 lead. She finished the game with a career-best seven treys.

Leading 37-20 after one half, the Wildcats saw their lead get cut down to nine, 39-30, with five minutes gone off the clock to start the second half after Furman went a 10-2 run.

Davidson pushed it back to double digits on a Thompson three-pointer, but shortly thereafter, Furman came right back with another run, this time rattling off 7-0 stretch to bring the score to 42-37 and 12:42 left on the clock.

Furman kept it under single digits until Chloe Woodington hit a running layup to trigger a 10-0 run to give Davidson a commanding 61-41 lead with 7:16 remaining in the half.

The Wildcats then rolled to their 14th win by allowing the Paladins to get no closer than 15 points the rest of the way.

The triumph was the eighth in the last nine meetings for Davidson in the all-time series vs. the Paladins.

Its the first time the 'Cats will play a first round game since the 2002-03 season when they defeated Wofford to open the league tournament. With the victory over Furman, Davidson would head to the quarterfinals where it has a 6-7 record in the tourney.

The Wildcat starting rotation has seen them use 11 different combinations, with the most successful being Julia Paquette and Sophia Aleksandravicius down low, and Alex Thompson, Monica Laune and Lax on the wings/point guard spots. The 'Cats have gone 6-1 with that lineup. Four of the probable five starters for Davidson have started at least 16 of the 28 games this year.

Senior Alex Thompson leads the way for the Wildcats as she looks to carry her stellar senior campaign into the tournament. Named to both the media (second team) and coaches All-SoCon teams earlier this week, Thompson paces the team with 12.7 and 3.4 averages in points and assists per game. Besides ranking ninth and fourth, respectively, in both categories in the league, the guard is also seventh from behind the arc, draining 38.6 percent of her shots.

This year, Thompson has hit for double figures in points 20 times, hitting the 20-point plateau four times including a season-best 22 points twice.

The senior became the 13th Wildcat in program history to hit the 1,000-point mark, and currently sits in 12th place all-time with 1,028 points. She is second all-time in made three-pointers with 158 and assists with 337.

Joining Thompson in the backcourt is fellow senior Monica Laune and junior Lax. Laune has had a career year, setting personal bests in nearly every category, including points at an even eight a game. She has started a career-high 14 games this year.

Lax, third on the team with an 11.1 ppg average, is sixth in the league in made three-pointers at 61. She is just five away from matching her career-best from last year in which she set the single-season school record with 66 treys. She is averaging 12.1 points against league foes, one of three 'Cats pouring in at least 12 points a game in league games, and has scored in double digits the last four games in a row.
Paquette has been a staple in the line the last three years, having started 68 times. The senior ranks second on the team in rebounding at 5.9 a game. She became the 12th Wildcat in program history to eclipse the 500-rebound mark when she hauled in eight boards at College of Charleston, Jan. 16. Paquette is sixth in the league in shooting at a 49.4 percent clip and is a career 48.3 percent shooter.

Rounding out the lineup is freshman Sophia Aleksandravicius. Coming in ranked 37th in the nation at her position, she has lived up to the expectations. The 6-4 forward is second on the team in scoring at 11.8 points per game, while pacing the Wildcats with an 8.2 rebounding average, good for third-best in the conference.

Aleksandravicius has also been a double-double machine during the regular season, finishing with a team-best 11. In her first SoCon game, the freshman went off for a season-best 28 points and hauled in 13 rebounds to lead Davidson over Furman. Two games later in her home debut, Aleksandravicius' reached her season-high in boards with a game-best 16 while chipping in 19 points vs. Appalachian State.
The Wildcat forward finished the regular season scoring in double figures 16 times, including reaching the 20-point mark four times.

The Wildcats' five freshmen have played a key role this year, with three of them having seen action in at least 18 of the 28 games. The freshman pair of Barbara Sitton and Sarah Davis have been key reserves. Sitton is second on the team with 66 assists and 33 steals. Sophomore Kristen Johnsen (5.4 ppg/3.8 rpg), redshirt sophomore Chloe Woodington and sophomore Amanda Ottaway have also seen significant time this year.

Davidson's offense has been ranked in the top-five of the league the majority of the season. They are third in scoring at 66.2 ppg, while shooting 41.5 percent from the floor, third-best in the SoCon.

Scouting the Paladins
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
Should the Wildcats advance, they would take on No. 3 seed Appalachian State on Saturday, Mar. 6 with the start time coming 30 minutes after the first game of the day, which is No. 4 College of Charleston vs. No. 5 Georgia Southern at 9 a.m.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results