Davidson Opens Season With Strong 69-51 Win

Friday, November 13

Greenville, S.C.

5:00 p.m.

Davidson College Athletics

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Furman (ESPN3)

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Davidson

Furman

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

11/13/2015 7:37:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID

Box Score (pdf)
DavidsonPhotos.com

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Three Wildcats scored in double figures and Davidson started its 2015-16 season with a strong 69-51 road win at Furman, Friday evening inside Timmons Arena.

Dakota Dukes scored a game-high19 points, while fellow senior Hannah Early added 14 and sophomore Mackenzie Latt scored 12. All three crashed the boards as well, combining for 23 rebounds. Dukes and Latt hauled in eight each.

In her first collegiate game, Justine Lyon added seven points, four rebounds and a pair of assists.

Davidson (1-0), which stopped a 12-game skid dating back to January 21, shot an even 50 percent for the game, hitting 29-of-58 field goals, while dominating on the glass with a 45-30 advantage. Its defense held Furman to 19-of-62 shooting for 30.6 percent.

Furman also had three double-digit scorers, led by Holli Wilkins' 19 points. Cierra Carter had 15 and Whitney Bunn added 11 points.

Up 31-17 after the first two quarters, Davidson pulled away with a 13-2 spurt to start the third quarter. Early led the charge, scoring six of her 10 points in the quarter during the run. After Furman rattled off a 12-0 run of its own to get within 14 at 47-33, Dukes answered with seven straight points to push the lead to 51-38 after the end of the quarter.

The lead grew to as many as 20 points (62-42) in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats cruised to the 18-point win.

Lyon's first career triple as a Wildcat gave Davidson an early 13-4 lead in the first quarter. The 'Cats would hit seven of their first nine shots for a 15-8 lead. A pair of Dukes' free throws made it 17-11 at the end of the quarter.

Davidson turned up the defense in the second quarter, holding Furman scoreless for over eight minutes of the 10-minute quarter. Another two points from Dukes made it 25-17 and later a three-ball by Alexandra Long from the right wing made it 29-17 before the 'Cats went into the break up 31-19.

Furman hit just 7-of-32 shots overall in the first two quarters, including only 1-for-11 from long range.

Davidson continues its season-long seven-game road trip at Wake Forest Tuesday, Nov. 17. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES: This was the 59th meeting between the two schools … The Wildcats avenged last year's season-opening defeat (67-60) to the Paladins, winning their 28th game in the all-time series … Davidson improved to 10-27 all-time in season openers … since the 1992-93 season, when the program was restarted, the Wildcats have opened the year on the road or at a neutral site 21 times … Davidson scored 32 points in the paint, had 19 second-chance points and got 17 from its bench … the seven-game road swing is the longest since an eight-game trip to start the 2009-10 campaign.