College of Charleston
Appalachian State
Career Nights by Furstenburg and Kotcella Propel Cougars to 81-49 Win over ASU
12/14/2007 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jill Furstenburg scored a career-high 22 points, while Brooke Kotcella added a career-high 20 to lead the College of Charleston to the 81-49 win over the Appalachian State Mountaineers in women's basketball action in front of 319 fans tonight at the John Kresse Arena.
The Cougars win their second straight and improve to 3-5 overall and 1-0 in the Southern Conference. Appalachian State falls to 1-6 and 0-1 in league play. The win marked the third straight year the Cougars have won the SoCon opener.
Appalachian State opened the first half with a three-pointer by Whitney Tossie to take the early 3-0 lead with 19:31 to go. Charleston scored the next nine points to take the 9-3 lead with 17:28 to go. Appalachian cut the deficit to three, 13-10 with 13:51 remaining in the half before the Cougars exploded on offense, as the team went on a 23-5 run to take the 36-15 lead with 5:33before intermission. Charleston held the lead to over 20 points and went into the locker room with the 25-point 47-22 advantage.
For the half the Cougars shot 57.6 percent and held the Mountaineers to just 19.4, using a 28-17 advantage in rebounds, including a 20-7 edge in defensive boards. Turnovers were fairly even with the Cougars holding the slight 12-11 edge.
Charleston did not let up in the second half, never letting the Mountaineers get closer than 21 points. Charleston led by 21, 54-33, with 13:17 to go before the Cougars went on a 12-0 run to put the game away and led by 33 points, 66-33, with 10:34 remaining. The Cougars finished with the 32-point, 81-49 win.
Charleston shot 30.8 percent in the second half to finish the game with a 45.8 field goal percentage. Appalachian State shot 25.0 percent for the game after a 32.1 performance in the final 20 minutes. Charleston was a season-high 23-for-29 from the free-throw line, while ASU was 14-for-20. The Cougars held the 51-34 advantage in rebounds, and the 27-23 edge in turnovers.
Following Furstenburg and Kotcella was Nikki Williams, who posted 10 points and a team-leading 11 rebounds for her second career double-double. Sarah Moye also had double-digit rebounds with 10 on the night. Sam Ramirez led Appalachian State with 16 points. Brittany Mixon and Brittney Spencer led in rebounds with five apiece.
The Cougars travel to S.C. State Monday, Dec. 17th in their next contest. The Mountaineers are at Georgia Southern Sunday, the 16th in a 3:00 p.m. tip-off.
