Weekly Athletic Update for January 15-21, 2003
Basketball
Vs. Lincoln Memorial (1/15/03)
In 40 minutes of play, the Railsplitters of Lincoln Memorial College defeated Converse College Wednesday, January 15th, with the score of 83-56. Converse was led by sophomore center Lindsey Parker who had 15 points and 7 rebounds while sophomore guard Melissa Ballard chipped in 14 points.
LMU placed 4 players in double-digits as Chasity Williams tied a game-high 15 points with Parker and had 3 assists and 3 steals. Morgane Vannoy, Hillary Ross, and Karmella Wynne combined for 36 of LMU’s 83 points as Lincoln Memorial shot 33-of-81 (40.7%) on the night.
The Lady Railsplitters went into the half with a 47-26 cushion and cruised from there. LMU had a slight advantage rebounding as they pulled down 41 compared to Converses’ 37, but the difference came as the All-Stars turned over the ball 27 times and allowed LMU to score 36 points off of those.
Converse drops to 1-12 on the year.
Vs. Berry College (1/21/03)
With three players scoring over 20 points apiece, the Berry College women’s basketball team got is the best offensive performance of the season in a 100-70 victory over Converse College on Tuesday night at Ford Gymnasium. Senior Sheri Brooks and freshman Whitney Deal and Deana Duncan combined for 65 points and 19 rebounds in the paint, as Berry reached the century mark in scoring for the first time this season.
The Lady Vikings double up the All-Stars early, building a 16-8 lead five minutes into the game. Converse kept the game close for most of the half, even cutting the gap to three points, but the Lady Vikings made a late push to open up some breathing room before the break. Leading 35-31 with 3:40 to play, Berry went on a 9-0 run to build a 44-31 cushion with 1:30 remaining when freshman Neeley McDaniel hit a driving layup after a steal by junior Amber Wood. The Lady Vikes went into the half with a 44-36 lead, and at the break, both teams were shooting well from the field. Converse was 15-of-26 (58%) from the floor while Berry was 17-of-32 (53%.) While the All-Stars had a 17-11 rebounding edge, Berry had forced 17 Converse turnovers and turned them into 25 points.
In the second half, the Lady Vikings’ depth eventually wore down the All-Stars thin roster. A jumper by senior Kristi Faris with 17 minutes left cut the Berry lead to 51-42, but that was as close as Converse would get all night. The Lady Vikes went on a 17-2 run, and Brooks an Duncan combined for 13 of those points in the post. Berry had a 68-44 lead with 13:10 to play, and the Lady Vikings cruised from there. A 12-4 run later in the game pushed the lead to 86-55, the last two buckets coming on back-to-back fast break layups by Deal. Berry’s biggest lead was 32 points, 91-59, when senior Leasha Raburn drained a three-pointer with 4:15 remaining.
The Lady Vikings finished the game shooting 39-of-67 (58%) from the floor, their best percentage of the season. They hit 5-of-11 three-pointers (45%) and converted 17-of-21 free throw attempts (81%). Berry had a 39-27 advantage in rebounds, and the team distributed the ball well, recording 32 assists. The Lady Vikings held Converse to 8-of-27 shooting in the second half (29%) and just 23-of-53 for the game (43%.)
Converse freshman Sophie Hofferberth had 24 points and sophomore Melissa Ballard added 18 points and 5 assists. Sophomore Lindsey Parker had 13 points and nine rebounds, while Faris finished with 10 points and five assists. The All-Stars fell to 1-13 overall and will take on Carson-Newman January 27th at home.
The Emmanuel game on 1/23/03 will be rescheduled due to bad weather.