Wildcats Drop First of the Season at Gardner-Webb, 54-49

Wednesday, November 14

Boiling Springs, N.C.

11:00 a.m.

Davidson College

2-1, 0-0

Gardner-Webb

3-1, 0-0

DAV

GWU

Photo by: Tim Cowie - DavidsonPhotos.com

Wildcats Drop First of the Season at Gardner-Webb, 54-49

11/14/2018 1:45:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Gavin McFarlin - Associate SID

Box Score
DavidsonPhotos.com

BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. — The Davidson women's basketball team was unable to shake off a cold shooting day at Gardner-Webb resulting in their first defeat of the season, 54-49, during Education Day inside Paul Porter Arena in front of nearly 1,000 local elementary students.

Despite shooting just 28.1 percent from the floor, the Wildcats (2-1) stayed within striking distance and had a chance to get a win. Trailing most of the game, they grabbed a 47-45 lead on a running layup by Katie Turner with 2:01 to go and were within two points with under a minute left at 49-47. But, turnovers and a couple missed three-pointers hurt the 'Cats and allowed the Runnin' Bulldogs to pull out the win.

GWU (3-1) got a pair of free throws from Nia Lee to break a tie at 47 and then a three-point play by Neydja Petithomme made it 52-47 with 17.4 ticks left. Turner missed a three-ball on the Wildcats' next possession, forcing them to foul and send GWU to the line to seal the game.

For the second straight game, Sarah Donovan recorded a double-double with 12 points and a new personal-best 15 rebounds, six of them on offense. She reached the double-double mark by halftime.

Cassidy Gould matched Donovan with 12 points to go with five rebounds, while Kianna Speight had 10 points. Kyla Roland pulled in eight rebounds as Davidson hit the 50-rebound mark for the second game in a row.

Two reached double digits for Gardner-Webb, led by Carley Plentovich and Gabrielle Caponegro's 16 points each. Caponegro hauled in 15 rebounds as well.

Neither team shot well on the day, with GWU finishing at 30.5 percent (18-59) while Davidson was just 3-for-27 from behind the arc.

Davidson tied GWU in the second quarter scoring 16 points to head into halftime down four at 28-24 after trailing 12-8 at the end of the first quarter.

The third quarter saw the Wildcats close the gap and even take a 38-37 lead on a Justine Lyon jumper with 49 seconds left before the quarter ended with GWU up 41-39.

The Wildcats return home this Saturday for a 7 p.m. game against Appalachian State.

GAME NOTES: This was the 16th meeting all-time dating back to the 1978-79 season … Davidson fell to 7-9 in the all-time series …. Turner saw her double-figure scoring streak come to an end at 13 games after being held six points … Lyon moved up the scoring list again, moving into 16th with 1,049 points … the game featured six lead changes and five ties … Donovan's double-double was the fifth of her career.