College of Charleston
UNCG
Women's Hoops Falls in Home Opener
11/16/2014 10:16:00 PM | Women's Basketball
CHARLESTON, S.C. – A last second jump shot from UNCG's Jade Scaife capped a 20-point Spartan comeback on Sunday afternoon as College of Charleston women's basketball fell in its 2014-15 home opener, 70-68.
Erin Hall led the Cougars (0-2) on the night in scoring with 14 points on six-of-11 shooting, while newcomer Jacqueline Luna-Castro also pitched in with a 12 point, 10 rebound double-double. Despite an off night shooting, freshman point guard Shiclasia Brown continued to prove herself, dropping 11 assists in just her second collegiate game.
The Cougars out-paced the Spartans in nearly every major statistical category, including: rebounds (45-36), field goal percentage (43%-39%), bench points (21-18) and assists (18-14), but couldn't manage to hang on to a 20-point lead with just over 12 minutes to go, eventually falling to their former SoCon rivals on the final play of the game.
It was UNCG – coming off of a loss to Clemson in their opener – who got the better of play early, jumping out to a 10-4 lead. The advantage wouldn't hold for long though, as the Cougars tied the game at 18-18 following a free throw from senior center Mikaela Hopkins. The CofC lead was then extended to as many as 10 after freshman Courtney Gardner was the beneficiary of a great pass from Hall on a pick and roll move, giving the Cougars a commanding 34-24 lead with just 2:16 to go in the first half. A basket from UNCG cut the cushion to seven, but another jumper from Hall gave the Cougars a 38-29 lead as both teams headed to their locker rooms at halftime.
The opening phase of the second stanza was all Cougars as the lead ballooned to 20 following a layup from Shannon Hines. From there, however, the Spartans took control and continued to chip away, until Scaife's jumper with 0.1 seconds left sealed win for UNCG.
Next up for The College is a Wednesday, Nov. 19 trip to Greenville, N.C., where the Cougars will face East Carolina. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. (ET)
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