Wednesday, February 21, 2001

Catawba women claim first-ever 
South Atlantic Conference Championship

SALISBURY, NC  -- Catawba College avenged its only league loss to date and claimed the South Atlantic Conference women's basketball championship with an 84-65 win over Presbyterian on Wednesday night at Goodman Gym. 

For the Lady Indians, it marks their first-ever regular season SAC championship. Catawba improves to 21-4 overall and 12-1 in the league, while Presbyterian falls to 20-7 and 10-3.  It was the eighth straight win for Catawba and a school record 11th in a row at home.

Catawba used a 24-11 run over the final nine minutes of the opening half to take control.  Catawba shot 56.3% in the opening half, while holding the Blue Hose to just 19 total shots and eight field goals.  The Lady Indians would build a 26-point bulge midway through the last half, but Presbyterian would not die, scoring 15 consecutive points to cut the margin to 67-56 with 6:10 to play. 

A basket by Lakai Brice (Burlington, NJ) stopped the run and the Lady Indians would steadily build back a comfortable lead.  Catawba, ranked 10th in NCAA II in field goal shooting, canned 37-of-62 (59.7%) on the night and held a 39-20 edge on the boards.  The Lady Indians outscored Presbyterian 64-14 in the paint.

Five players reached double figures for Catawba, led by Donna Carr (Salisbury, NC) with 19.  Erin Buckland (Icard, NC) had 14 off the bench, while Brice and freshman Danyel Locklear (Pembroke, NC) each  had a dozen.  Tracy Woody (Mauldin, SC) had 21 points to lead Presbyterian, while Rachel Sloan (Greenville, SC) added 17 and Bonnie Werner (Kennesaw, GA) had 15.