Women’s Basketball rolls to first regional final in program history

Salisbury, N.C. —- The 17th-ranked Catawba College women's basketball team advanced to its first regional final in program history Saturday night, rolling to a 75-49 win over Clayton State in the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Southeast Regional semifinal round at Goodman Gym. The Catawba Indians improve to 27-5 overall, while the Lakers end their season at 19-12.

Sara McIntosh led the way for Catawba, scoring a game-high 20 points on perfect 8-for-8 shooting to go along with six rebounds. Janiya Downs added 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds, while Lyrik Thorne added 11 points, five rebounds and five assists. Mary Spry chipped in 11 points and nine rebounds off the bench. Audrey McElhaney recorded a team-high 16 points for Clayton State.

Catawba held its opponent to under 30 percent shooting for the second consecutive game, as the Lakers shot just 28 percent from the field and 7 percent from three-point range. The Catawba Indians held a massive 54-28 rebounding advantage and had 16 assists to Clayton State's four.

Diamond Swift started the game with an and-one and hit the front end of a pair of free throws to give Clayton State a 4-2 advantage, but it was the last lead they would have. Catawba rattled off an 18-0 run fueled by a combined 14 points from Thorne and McIntosh to take a commanding 20-4 lead at the 2:40 mark of the first quarter. Catawba's lead grew to as much as 20 points in the first quarter alone, but a late Clayton State three-pointer cut their deficit to 25-8 after 10 minutes.

The teams traded baskets for the majority of the second quarter until a quick 5-0 Catawba run gave the Catawba Indians their largest lead of the game to that point, a 39-17 lead at the 2:44 mark. Lauren Ford's and-one put Catawba up 42-19 at the half.

A 6-0 Catawba run in the middle of the third quarter saw the home team double up their opponent, leading 50-25 at the 4:17 mark. A pair of free throws from Mercedes Wampler put Catawba up by its largest margin of the night – a 59-29 lead with under a minute left in the third quarter. Six straight Laker points cut their deficit to 59-35 with 10 minutes left.

Catawba scored the first four points in the fourth quarter and never looked back, leading by at least 23 points for the entirety of the final period. 

The Catawba Indians make their first-ever regional final appearance on Monday night, hosting Georgia Southwestern for the Southeast Regional crown at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at https://catawbaathletics.com/tickets or via the HomeTown Ticketing app.