Brooke Kotcella (Anderson) scored 16 points while Jade Hughes (Spartanburg, S.C.) added 13 as the College of Charleston women's basketball team survived a late Charleston Southern rally to defeat the Bucs, 64-59, in action tonight in front of 311 fans at Carolina First Arena.
The College of Charleston improved to 9-3 while Charleston Southern dropped to 6-5. The Cougars opened the home season 6-0 for the first time in Division I history and the 9-3 overall record is the best since the team opened the 1988-89 season 11-0.
Tonia Gerty (Port Orange, Fla.) opened the second half with a basket to increase the Cougar lead to 19 (45-26) before Charleston Southern went on a 17-1 run to cut the margin to three, 46-43, with 10:28 remaining. CofC responded with two three-pointers and a jumper to end the threat and led by 11, 54-43 with 8:38 to go.
Nine unanswered points by the Bucs cut the deficit to two at the 4:33 mark but that would be as close as they would get as the Cougars used back to back three pointers to increase the lead to six. After CSU's Katie Tull nailed a three-pointer with 43 seconds to go to cut the margin to three, Deidra Jones (Irmo,S.C.) responded with a layup with 20 seconds remaining to help the Cougars seal the 64-59 win.
The Cougars outscored the Bucs 20-3 in the opening seven minutes of the game and kept the double-digit lead throughout the rest of the half. Charleston Southern cut the margin to 13 on a couple of occasions, but shot just 24.2 percent in the half to head into the locker room trailing by 17, 43-26. The Cougars shot a blistering 60 percent, going 18-for-30 from the field.
The Cougars' offense left them in the second half as they only shot 29.6 percent from the field. For the game Charleston shot 45.6. The Bucs shot 27.7 percent for the game and were just eight-for-36 from beyond the three-point arc. The Cougars were eight-for-19 in three-pointers and out-rebounded the Bucs, 45-42. While CSU was 15-for-24 from the free throw line, the Cougars were only four-for-eight.
Following Kotcella and Hughes in scoring was Ericka Williams (Blackville, S.C.) with 10 points. Kotcella and Jones paced the team in rebounds with nine apiece. Tull led CSU with 14 points, while Ali Schwagmeyer followed with 12. LeChell Rush led the team in rebounds with seven.
The Cougars are next in action at Chattanooga Saturday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m.
