#14 Women’s Basketball rolls to SAC quarterfinal win over UVA Wise

Rock Hill, S.C. —- The 14th-ranked and top-seeded Catawba College women's basketball team drained 12 three-pointers en route to their 96-78 win over 8th-seeded UVA Wise in the South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Championship quarterfinal on Tuesday afternoon at the Rock Hill Event Center.

TEAM STATISTICS

- Catawba shot 29-of-61 (48 percent) from the field; UVA Wise was 28-for-65 (43 percent) from the floor

- The Catawba Indians were 12-for-26 (46 percent) from three-point range, while the Cavaliers were 7-of-26 (27 percent)

- Catawba was 26-for-35 (74 percent) from the free throw line; Wise was 15-of-22 (68 percent) at the charity stripe

- The Catawba Indians out-rebounded the Cavs 43-35, leading to a slim 13-11 advantage in second-chance points

- Catawba recorded 19 assists to 20 turnovers, while UVA Wise had 18 assists to 20 turnovers; the Catawba Indians held a small 21-18 edge in points off turnovers

- Catawba also led in points in the paint (34-28), fastbreak points (13-11) and bench points (29-23)

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- SAC Player of the Year Lyrik Thorne recorded 24 points, 10 assists and six rebounds on an efficient 8-for-14 from the field and 5-of-7 from three-point range

- Janiya Downs added 15 points, five rebounds and four assists

- Nala Baker chipped in 15 more points off the bench with three three-pointers and four steals

- Sara McIntosh was the fourth Catawba Indian in double figures with 12 points and eight boards

- Janiya Foskey scored nine points with seven rebounds

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST QUARTER

- The teams both sprinted out of the gates, with Catawba leading 10-9 after only two minutes

- An 11-0 Catawba burst included back-to-back triples from Thorne to take a 21-9 lead just after the midway point of the quarter

- Downs' and-one pushed the Catawba Indian lead to 31-13 after 10 minutes of play

SECOND QUARTER

- Caitlyn Ross' second three-pointer of the first 90 seconds of the second quarter cut Wise' deficit to 13 points at the 8:30 mark

- Jada Porter's three-pointer and Thorne's layup returned the Catawba lead to 18

- The Cavaliers' 12-0 run brought them within six points at the midway point of the quarter

- A 10-2 Catawba run helped bring the cushion back to their lead at 49-35 at the 3:24 mark

- Wise's free throw cut their deficit back to single digits momentarily, until Thorne's layup in the closing seconds of the half gave Catawba a 51-40 advantage at the halftime break

THIRD QUARTER

- The teams held serve throughout the third quarter, with the Catawba never exceeding 14, but never getting below eight

- Mazie Helpman's three-pointer in the closing seconds of the quarter extended Catawba's advantage to 71-59 heading into the fourth quarter

FOURTH QUARTER

- Thorne's free throws at the 7:24 mark built the Catawba Indian advantage to 80-64

- Five straight Catawba free throws capped a 10-0 run to push their lead to 24 points, the largest of the game at that point 

- Mary Spry's layup gave the Catawba Indians their largest lead of the day at 94-69 with three minutes to go

- Wise scored nine of the game's final 11 points with Catawba's reserves checked into the game

UP NEXT

- Catawba returns to the Rock Hill Event Center on Thursday at noon, facing the winner of 4-seed Wingate and 5-seed Lincoln Memorial in the SAC Semis