Furman Women’s Basketball Takes a Road Trip to Western Carolina to Face Catamounts
Tonight, the Furman Paladins Women’s Basketball (10-6 0-0 SoCon) make a trip up the mountains to SoCon foe Western Carolina Catamounts (5-10 0-0 SoCon) in hopes to come away with their first SoCon win of the year and first for Head Coach Pierre Curtis in his career at Furman. Furman comes in on a huge win over Converse Sunday 93-40, and a 3 game win streak, last losing to Kentucky on 12/17 at the SEC teams home Rump Arena.
Furman will be relying on powerhouse forward Kate Johnson to help lead the way as the SoCon Student Athlete of the Week had an awesome game Sunday versus Converse with 22 points, 15 rebounds and 2 assist. We head into the opening tip off with our starting 5 for tonight courtesy of furmanpaladins.com https://twitter.com/FurmanWBB
We are just about ready for tipoff tonight, let’s get ready to enjoy Furman Women’s Basketball! Furman gets the game rolling and with 6:17 in the first its 8-6 Furman in the lead. We come to the first media timeout and its still 8-6 Furman in the lead.
We have yet another timeout on the floor with 2:38 left in the first with Furman tied 13-13 with Western Carolina. We come to the end of a long first quarter and Furman has the lead 20-15 after a last second shot. Furman with the end of the first has 8 points in the paint, 4 points off turnovers, and 3 points off the bench.
We start the second quarter of the game with Furman up by 5 points and it was a strange first quarter with a long delay to verify a play called a foul. We start the second period with Western getting the ball, and we are off and running again with great pressure by Furman. Media timeout with 7:47 left in the half, and Furman has a 27-18 lead.
It’s under three minutes left in the game and Furman holds a 38-26 advantage over the Catamounts, both teams have been very physical inside the paint, Western is trying to climb back into this game here at the end of the half with under a minute to go 38-32. Furman has allowed Western to sneak back into this game as we end the half with Furman getting a foul and its 39-34 with 9 seconds left and we come to an end.
The stats so far are Furman with 20 points inside the paint, 16 points off the bench, 8 points off turnovers, 6 second chance points, and 2 points off fast breaks. Leading scorers are Sydney Ryan leads Furman with 12 points 3 rebounds, Kate Johnson 9 points 5 rebounds, Niveya Henley 7 points 3 rebounds. Furman is shooting 75% from the free throw line, and 25% from 3-point range, 39% from Fg range.
So with the first media timeout with 4:44 left in the 3rd period, Furman has a 47-43 lead as they are all over Jada Session in the paint. Furman now leading 48-43 after a FT by Jada after the timeout. We come to a media timeout with 48 seconds left in the period, Furman 57-52 over Western Carolina. Furman shooting 80% from the FT line, 26% from 3-point line, and 37% from FG.
here we go as we come to the end of the 3rd, Furman holds a 5-point lead 59-54 as we head to the 4th quarter here in Cullowhee, NC. Interesting fact that in the second both teams scored 19 points, and in the 3rd both teams scored 20 points as we head to the fourth, its been how we ended the first that has been the difference in the game.
we come to the media timeout with 7:18 left in the game, Furman leads 63-60 Furman with 30 points in the paint, 29 points off the bench, and 14 second chance points. Western out shooting Furman at the 3 point range and in FG%. Yet Furman has them at the free throw line which seems to be the difference tonight, so the big question is can Furman hold on to a win!! Jada Session has a huge steal and layup and its now 69-60 Paladins with a mini run with 5:22 left in the game. The Paladins with 1:33 left is now leading 76-67 after some clutch shooting here, as Western is now starting to foul at will on the Paladins as they have several to give as Furman finally goes to the line after several straight fouls. Timeout on the floor with 1 minute left and the score is 78-69 Furman Women’s Basketball has the lead and trying its best to get out with a road victory here tonight at Western Carolina.
Now 80-69 with 50 seconds left in the game, Furman is grasping to get out with a win, great shooting at the line tonight. Timeout Furman, 32 seconds left in the game and its 82-69 Furman as we come to a close on this game tonight. Furman getting its 4th straight win as Tate Walters hits 2 free throws and its 84-69 with 17 seconds left and that will be it 84-69 Furman tonight!
