WILMINGTON, N.C. – It was a tale of two halves in Trask Coliseum Sunday with the Cougars roaring back from a rough opening 20 minutes, but it wasn't enough to pull off the win as the College of Charleston women's basketball team fell 67-61 to UNCW.
• After going down big in the opening stanza, CofC flipped the game on its head in the second half, winning the third quarter by eight points. They continued to roll in the fourth, forcing UNCW to commit four turnovers in the first three minutes to close the gap to as few as three points. That was as close as they'd get however, as timely Seahawk baskets and subsequent free throws allowed them to stave off the surge.
• The Cougars couldn't buy a bucket to start the game, missing their first 10 field goal attempts and finishing the half shooting 6 of 27. UNCW capitalized by pushing the lead as high as 21, and went to the locker room up 38-18.
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Breanna Bolden had a strong game in defeat, and was a critical component of the comeback attempt by scoring 10 of her 17 points in the third quarter. She added eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block, while
Dajah Logan (12 Pts, 5 Reb) and
Shiclasia Brown (11 Pts, 4 Ast, 3 Stl) joined her in double-digit scoring.
• Though UNCW controlled most of the measurable categories after the first half, the Cougars' surge in the second half evened things up. CofC won the turnover battle 20-16, and more or less pulled even in rebounds 37-39. UNCW (23 of 55, 41.8%) shot the ball slightly better than the Cougars (24 of 64, 37.5%) from the field, but truly won the day from the charity stripe where they scored 13 points to CofC's six. Madison Raque led all scorers with 18 points, while Jordan Henry came up big with a 12-13 double-double.
• The loss snaps the College of Charleston's four-game winning streak against UNCW, which spanned all of last season as well as an earlier game this season. CofC now holds an all-time record of 11-10 against the Seahawks.
The Cougars will now return to Charleston for a two-game home-stand next weekend against Drexel on Friday night and Towson on Sunday afternoon.
