Friday, March 1, 2002
2002
Food Lion
No. 2 PRESBYTERIAN DEFEATS No. 3 CATAWBA 71-67
Catawba
held the lead for much of the last half before Presbyterian
eventually took the lead at 57-56 on a three-pointer by Toni
Leopard with
“Our intensity the last seven minutes just picked up,” said Presbyterian Coach Beth Couture. “We were really controlling the boards the last seven minutes. Toni [Leopard] wanted the ball and did a great job with it. Dana Birnie a freshman made two big defensive stops.”
Ella Pasola tied the game for Catawba at 61-61 at the 4:46 mark, but Nicole Chittam answered with a three-pointer for Presbyterian to put the Lady Blue Hose up for good at 64-61 with 4:46 left. Catawba closed to within a point at 66-65 on a layin by Pasola and the Lady Indians had a chance to tie near the end, but Isiaette Darden’s three-pointer was blocked by Birnie.
Leopard led all scorers with 25 for the Lady Blue Hose. Birnie added 15, while Chittam had 14 off the bench.. Catawba got 15 points from Danyel Locklear and a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds from Dorthell Little. Pasola, the only Catawba senior, added 11.
The Blue
Hose won the game at the free throw line, where they made good
on 22-of-31 attempts, while Catawba hit just 3-of-6.
The Lady Blue Hose also made seven three-pointers to
two for Catawba. Presbyterian
was 18-of-22 in the last half after reaching the bonus at the
“I thought our young players got a little hesitant and tentative,” said Catawba Coach John Duncan. “Sometimes when that happens it turns the tables on you. Presbyterian did a great job shooting, no doubt about it. I’m excited about next year, last year we graduated eight seniors, this year just one. We have a lot of young talent.”
Presbyterian
will face regular-season champion Mars Hill on Saturday
afternoon at