Feb. 5, 2007

Box Score

Charleston, S.C. - The Furman women's basketball team got back in the win column Monday morning, holding on for a 55-53 victory over College of Charleston in front of 1,126 kids and fans as part of "Education Day" at John Kresse Arena.

After leading by as many as seven with three minutes remaining in the game, Furman found its lead trimmed to only two, 55-53, with six seconds to go. With CofC looking to tie or take the lead, the Paladins forced a turnover on an in-bounds play and the Cougars were forced to foul. Despite a Paladin miss on the front end of a one-and-one, time ran out before CofC could get off a shot, giving Furman its third conference win of the season.

The win was Furman's first true road victory of the season, improving its record to 8-16 overall and 3-10 in the Southern Conference. CofC has dropped four straight games, falling to 10-14 on the year, 5-8 in the league.

Freshman Kali Holtfreter scored a team-best 14 points for the Paladins, marking her fifth consecutive game in double figures. Junior Jessica Lange had a solid performance coming off the bench, connecting on 4-of-7 from the field and 5-for-5 from the free throw line for 13 points. Lange also posted a team-leading seven rebounds in the contest.

College of Charleston had three players in double figures, with forward Erika Smith's 14 tallies leading the way. Jade Hughes and Nikki Williams had 12 and 10, respectively.

Neither team could take a commanding lead in the first half. Furman led by five with 12:22 to go in the half, 11-6, before the Cougars used a small 8-0 run to take a 14-11 lead with 9:24 to go. Charleston held the slim lead the remainder of the half, going into the locker room ahead 24-21.

The Paladins hung with the Cougars to start the second half, keeping the margin under five until taking the lead for good at the 13:51 mark, 31-30, off a jumper by Courtney Opie. The margin stayed close for much of the remainder of the game, but Furman was eventually able to take the lead to seven, 53-46, with three minutes to play. Charleston fought back with a 7-2 run over the remainder of the game to pull within two with just 27 ticks on the clock, but could get no further and fell to the eventual 55-53 score.

Furman shot 37 percent in the game and outrebounded the Cougars 39-34. Charleston shot 38 percent from the field and had a season-high 10 blocks in the contest.

The Lady Paladins remain on the road to take on Wofford on Saturday, Feb. 10th at 6 p.m. Charleston travels to Elon the same day for a 7 p.m., tip with the Phoenix.