CHARLESTON, S.C. – Breanna Bolden made the College of Charleston women's basketball team's (0-1) home-opener against Charlotte a memorable one by breaking a huge school milestone Sunday. Yet it wasn't enough to give the Cougars the win, as Charlotte (2-0) prevailed with the 62-49 victory.
 
• Breanna Bolden recorded a career-high eight steals in her season debut, breaking the CofC Division I Era mark for most career steals, with 243 takeaways. The feat broke Jill Brown's (2010-14) mark of 240. Bolden has virtually her entire senior year to put the mark out of reach.
 
"I don't focus on getting steals, I just play the game," Bolden said. "It was the first game of the season, and I was excited for it. I don't really think about milestones like this, but it definitely means a lot to get it."
  • In addition to her eight takeaways, Bolden also led the Cougars in scoring with 16 points while adding eight boards. Tanisha Brown meanwhile pulled down a 10-12 double-double in her CofC debut. As fate would have it, her opening game was against the same team that she transferred from to get to the Lowcountry.
 
"It felt good to finally play my first game as a Cougar," Brown said. "I looked to my teammates to get me through the nervousness of everything. Seeing my old team made me want to compete, but it wasn't enough tonight."
 
• The Cougars only trailed by two at half, and the teams actually traded the lead back and forth all through the first seven minutes of the third quarter. But Bolden picked up her fourth foul of the game with three minutes to play in the period, and the dynamic of the game changed when she left for the bench. Charlotte responded with a 9-0 run to push the lead to 11, and would push it as high as 19 before all was said and done. Ciara Gregory hit five threes en route to a 16 point day, while Lefty Webster pulled off a 13-13-5 performance, adding a seven steals in her best Bre Bolden impression.
 
• Though they lost, it was an encouraging effort from the Cougars, who cut the point-differential from last year's final in Charlotte (89-61) by more than half.
 
"Charlotte played great, their shooters and their bench did what they needed them to do," head coach Candice M. Jackson said. "We held them to 28 points in the first half, but this is a team that you have to play two halves against, and we didn't do that today."
 
The Cougars return to action for their first road action of the season on Wednesday. They'll head to Rock Hill to take on Winthrop at 7 p.m.