Wildcats Drop Third Straight, Fall at South Carolina 68-47

Monday, November 24

Columbia, S.C.

7:00 p.m.

Davidson College

South Carolina

Junior Monica Laune broke her previous best in steals (3) with a game-high six at South Carolina.

Wildcats Drop Third Straight, Fall at South Carolina 68-47

11/24/2008 10:11:57 PM | Women's Basketball

Gavin McFarlin - Assistant SID

Box Score

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A 13-2 run to open the second half, aided by the outside shooting of Miranda Tate, helped the Gamecocks open up a 20-point lead, and they held off a resilient Davidson Wildcat team to earn a 68-47 win at the Colonial Life Arena on the campus of South Carolina in women's basketball action on Monday evening.

Davidson, playing the fourth of six straight road contests to open the season, fell to 1-3 with the non-conference defeat. South Carolina picked up its first win of the year after dropping games to Penn State and Clemson to start the year, improving to 1-2.

Leading 32-23 coming out of the break, Tate drained a long jumper and two three-pointers for eight of the Gamecocks' 13 points during their 13-2 run to start the new half, forcing a Wildcat timeout after it saw the South Carolina lead balloon to 20 at 45-25 with 14:14 remaining.

Tate led three Gamecocks in double figures with 13 points, hitting for nine of them behind the arc. Lakeisha Sutton followed with 11 points, six of them coming in the last five minutes when South Carolina put the game out of reach, and Demetress Adams rounded out the double-digit scorers with an even 10.

Despite being down by 20, the resilient 'Cats kept fighting and brought themselves within 10 points at 48-38 on a Julia Paquette (Stockbridge, Ga.) layup at the 6:41 mark. Davidson's defense held the Gamecocks to just three points during a seven-and-half minute stretch, while forcing five turnovers.

The lead grew back to 20 (60-40) with another run by the Gamecocks, this time a 12-2 spurt, over the next three minutes, and Davidson got no closer than 17 the rest of the way in falling 67-48.

Hurting the Wildcats again was its costly turnovers. Davidson had 31 for the game, 20 of them coming in the first half, and South Carolina scored 25 points off those miscues. The 'Cats did force a season-high 23 turnovers and pocketed 14 steals on the defensive end.

Senior Mercedes Robinson (Baltimore, Md.) led eight players who etched their names in the scorers book with nine points and 11 rebounds. Robinson matched her career-high total in steals with five, while junior Moncia Laune (Ashland, Neb.) set a new career-best with a game-high six.

The first half saw Kristen Johnsen (Wayne, Pa.) sparked a 9-0 run early when she started and finished off the spurt with driving layups to bring Davidson even at 13-13 halfway through the half.

South Carolina countered with its own run, rattling off a 16-4 spurt behind six different players who scored in the rally to give the Gamecocks a 29-17 lead, before Johnsen capped off the half with another layup to bring Davidson within nine at 32-23 at the intermission.

Davidson takes a three-day break before heading to Nashville, Tenn. to play at the Vanderbilt Thanksgiving Tournament, Nov. 28-29. The Wildcats will first play Vanderbilt on Friday at 3 p.m., before finishing the tournament with a contest against either Virginia Tech or St. Joseph on Saturday at 3 or 5 p.m.

Game Notes: Davidson held a 22-15 rebounding advantage in the first half ... It was a return trip back to her old stomping grounds for assistant coach Kelly Morrone, who was a three-year captain for the Gamecocks from 1999-2003 ... The match-up was the first between the two schools since Feb. 6, 1975 ... Davidson missed just one free throw, hitting 14-of-15 from the 15-foot line ... The Wildcats 14 steals were a season-high ... Freshman Amanda Ottaway's lone three-ball kept the Wildcats consecutive three-point streak alive at 224 games with at least one made three-pointer ... Ottaway came off the bench for season bests of eight points and five rebounds.