College of Charleston
No. 6 Bradley
College of Charleston rolls into WBI East Region Finals with 76-66 win over Bradley
3/21/2010 9:00:00 PM | Women's Basketball
CHARLESTON, S.C. – Senior guard Ericka Williams (Blackville, S.C.) delivered game-highs of 21 points and eight rebounds as the College of Charleston (21-11, 13-7) earned a 76-66 victory over Bradley (17-14, 12-6 OVC) in the second round of the Women's Basketball Invitational at the Carolina First Arena on Sunday, March 21.
With the win, the second-seeded Cougars advance to the East Region Finals of the WBI where they will face a familiar foe in top seeded Appalachian State. That game will be played on either Wednesday, March 24 or Thursday, March 25 in Boone, N.C. at the Holmes Center.
“We did not have a single senior that did not play well for us today” said head coach Nancy Wilson. “Jade [Hughes] limited their leading scorer early, despite a height advantage and Deidra Jones was strong in the low post and established early that she was going to be a force. NeShonda McLaurin had several key plays and Brooke [Kotcella] and Ericka Williams are a nice pair of forwards”.
“I just really appreciate our administration allowing us to be in this tournament and have a chance to compete” added Wilson. “When you have six seniors, four of whom have been in the program for four years, this is really a gift to them. They have put the program in a position to be invited to a tournament like the WBI”.
After battling out to a 9-7 advantage early in the game, the College of Charleston used a 10-2 run over a three-minute stretch to extend to a 19-9 lead as senior forward Brooke Kotcella (Anderson, S.C.) drilled a pair of three-pointers. Bradley then used a 10-4 run of their own to close to within 23-19 with 9:01 to play.
At that point, CofC took total control of the game as they used a total team effort to put together a dominant 22-7 run and take a commanding 45-26 lead into the break.
It was more of the same at the start of the second half as five points apiece from Williams and junior guard Tonia Gerty (Port Orange, Fla.) fueled a 12-5 run that left the College of Charleston with its largest lead of the game at 57-31 with 15:27 to play.
An 18-6 run by the Braves then narrowed the margin to 63-49 at the 6:19 mark but the rally would end there as three straight baskets from the Cougars, including back-to-back fast break layups from senior center NeShonda McLaurin (McColl, S.C.), stretched the lead back to 20 points at 69-49. They would not look back from there as they weathered a late Bradley rally as they closed out the 10-point victory to advance to the WBI East Region Final.
Freshman guard Katie Yohn led Bradley with a team-high 16 points while senior guard Renee Frericks finished with 12 points and three assists. Junior guard Raisa Taylor was the only other member of the Braves to reach double-digits, notching 11 points. Redshirt-sophomore Latasha Hollingshed chipped in with eight points and a team-best six rebounds.
Ericka Williams led four members of the College of Charleston in double-figures with her game-high 21 points and added eight rebounds, three on the offensive glass. Kotcella finished with 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting while senior center Deidra Jones (Irmo, S.C.) added 11 points and six rebounds, all of which were offensive. Continuing the leadership of the upper classmen throughout the Cougars postseason run, Gerty finished with an impressive all-around line of 11 points, five assists, four steals and four rebounds.
As a team, CofC shot 45.3 percent from the field and an impressive 42.1 percent from three-point range and 83.3 from the foul line.
The College of Charleston now advances to face Appalachian State in the East Region Finals of the Women's Basketball Invitational on either Wednesday, March 24 or Thursday, March 25. Tip-off for that game is yet to be determined.
NOTES
Today's game represents the most games that the College of Charleston has ever played in a Division I season with it being their 32nd … it is also the third latest date that the Cougars have played a game, trailing only the March 27, 1982 game vs. Francis Marion and the March 26, 1982 North Dakota State contest … current records do not include the date's of CofC's run to NAIA Nationals in the 1979-80 and 1980-81 seasons ... it is the latest Division I contest in program history ... the victory was the first over Bradley as the teams had not met previously.
