Davidson Drops First-Time Meeting at Western Michigan

Sunday, November 13

Kalamazoo, Mich.

1:00 p.m.

Davidson College

0-2, 0-0A10

Western Michigan (ESPN3)

1-0, 0-0MAC

Davidson

Western Michigan

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

Davidson Drops First-Time Meeting at Western Michigan

11/13/2016 4:34:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Gavin McFarlin - Associate SID

Box Score (pdf)
DavidsonPhotos.com

KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Hoping to close out its trip to the state of Michigan with a victory, the Davidson women's basketball team fell short in its first-ever matchup against Western Michigan with a 76-63 setback Sunday afternoon at the Fieldhouse & University Arena.

The Wildcats (0-2), who led at the half and most of the third quarter, saw WMU (1-0) use a 17-0 run that carried from the end of the third quarter and into the fourth quarter to erase the 'Cats lead. Kianna Speight's three-ball and a fastbreak jumper gave Davidson its last lead of 46-44 with 2:01 left in the third quarter.

Speight finished with a career-high 16 points, draining a personal-best four three-pointers, to pace Davidson. Kalamazoo native Mackenzie Latt followed with 13 points and four rebounds.

Senior forward Rachel Piles had a career day, recording personal bests of nine points and five made free throws to go with seven rebounds (four on offense). Chloe Johnson came off the bench to drop in nine points, while freshman Andrea Robinson had eight points.

Western Michigan was led by Breanna Mobley's double-double with 27 points and 11 rebounds. She tallied 10 of the Broncos' 17 points during the game-change run and scored 17 combined in the third and fourth quarters.

Marley Hill also had a double-double for the Broncos, scoring 16 points and pulling in 10 rebounds, while Meredith Shipman scored 10 points and dished out five assists.

It was a back-and-forth game to start, featuring four ties and three lead changes in the first quarter before it ended with Western Michigan up one, 13-12. The Broncos then used a 10-3 run to start the next quarter and go up 23-15.

Davidson answered, rattling off its own big run with a 16-5 spurt to turn its deficit into a 31-28 lead. Johnson led the charge with seven points, nailing a pair of triples during the run, while Piles ended the spurt with two free throws and 1:17 left on the clock. The 'Cats would head into the half up one, 31-30.

The lead would grow to six twice in the third quarter after a jumper by Piles (38-32) and then a few minutes later a Latt 15-footer to make it 40-34 with 6:01 left.

WMU used an 8-1 run to grab the lead back at 42-41, but Speight scored her quick five points to give Davidson the lead right back before the drought started for the 'Cats near the end of the third quarter.

The game featured seven lead changes and six ties in all. Both teams took advantage of turnovers, with Davidson scoring 20 points and Western Michigan netting 25. The Broncos did most of their damage inside, scoring 42 points in the paint. Davidson earned 16 assists on their 21 made field goals.

The Wildcats return home to open up their home schedule with a 7 p.m. tip against first-time opponent UCF Wednesday, Nov. 16.

GAME NOTES: This was the first meeting all-time between the two schools women's basketball programs … head coach Michele Savage is 10 wins away from reaching 100 for her career at Davidson … it was a homecoming weekend for junior Mackenzie Latt and sophomore Kyla Roland, who are from Kalamazoo and Farmington Hills, Mich. … Davidson's 23 bench points were a season high and four off of last year's season best … the Wildcats pocketed 12 steals to give them 27 through two games.