College of Charleston
Furman
Cougars Rally to Defeat Paladins 64-53
2/3/2009 5:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jade Hughes (Spartanburg, S.C.) scored 16 points, seven coming during a Cougar 18-0 run in the second half, to lead the College of Charleston women's basketball team to the come-from-behind 64-53 win over Furman tonight in front of 221 fans at Timmons Arena in Greenville, S.C.
Charleston wins its Division I record ninth in a row to go to 17-5 overall and 10-4 in the Southern Conference. The 17 wins is a Division I record for the team, while the 10 league wins ties for the most conference victories by the Cougars as well. Furman falls to 10-13 and 4-10 in the leauge.
Furman led by as much as seven in the second half and held the 45-39 lead with 7:25 remaining. Charleston, behind seven points from Hughes and four points from Sarah Moye (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Brooke Kotcella (Anderson, S.C.), went on an 18-0 run the next six minutes to take the 12-point, 57-45, lead with 1:16 to go. All told the Cougars took a 25-8 run over the final seven-and-a-half minutes of the game and won by 11, 64-53.
Both teams traded baskets in the first half as there were four lead changes and five ties. Furman's largest lead of the half was four, while the Cougars led by as much as two early in the first half. Furman led 29-25 at the intermission The Cougars shot just 28.6 percent in the half, off an eight-for-28 effort from the field. The Paladins were 11-for-26 from the field.
Following Hughes, who had six rebounds to go with her 16 points, was Tonia Gerty (Port Orange, Fla.) with her 14 points. Moye pulled down a team-leading nine rebounds. Charleston shot 36.4 percent for the game and was eight-for-16 from beyond the three-point arc, as well as 16-for-25 from the charity stripe.
Furman was led by Lee Stephens with 16 points. Candace Dowell pulled down seven rebounds to pace the team. The Paladins shot 39.6 percent from the field and were five-for-six from the free throw line.
Charleston next travels to Samford, Saturday, Feb. 7 for a 2:00 p.m. game.
