Cougars Edge Furman, 52-49

Monday, January 8

Greenville, SC

7:00 PM

College of Charleston

Furman

1/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball

By: CofCSports.com

Erika Smith scored 14, while Nikki Williams added 12 to lead the College of Charleston women's basketball team to the come-from-behind 52-49 win over the Furman Paladins in front of 187 fans at Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C.

The Cougars improve to 7-8 overall and 3-2 in the Southern Conference, while the Paladins drop their sixth straight to go to 5-11 and 0-5 in the SoCon. The win marks the first time in 10 tries the Cougars have been victorious at Furman.

Furman led by as many as 13 in the first half, 24-11 with 7:03 left before intermission, before the Cougars took an 11-3 run over the remainder of the half to only trail by three, 27-24 going into the locker rooms. Furman was hot offensively, shooting 47.4 percent in the first half compared to just 29.0 percent for the Cougars.

The Cougars kept up their intensity in the second half, keeping Furman within just a few points, and even taking the lead on several occasions. Furman led by five with 5:42 left before two straight three-pointers by the Cougars gave CofC the one-point lead, with 2:48 to go, a lead the team would not relinquish.

Furman missed several opportunities to take the lead over the final 2:48, as CofC could not connect on its chances to score. Up by only one with 23 seconds left, Jill Furstenburg nailed two free throws to seal the 52-49 win.

For the game Charleston shot 31.7 percent from the field, while Furman shot 40.0 percent. The Cougars outrebounded the Paladins 41-32 and held Furman to just five offensive boards. Furman held the turnover edge, 20-14.

Following Smith with her 14 points and Williams with her 12 points was Melissa Chambers and Jade Hughes with six apiece. Smith also held the lead in rebounds for the team with eight.

Leading Furman was Melissa Liebschwager with 16 points, 12 of which came in the first half. Maggie McKemie paced the team with seven rebounds.

Charleston comes back home for a three-game home stand starting with Elon at 2:00 p.m. Sat., Jan. 13th at the John Kresse Arena. Furman hosts Wofford the 13th at 6:00 p.m.