Bulldogs' Second-Half Surge Sends GWU Past North Carolina Central, 73-60
November 22, 2008 | Women's Basketball
BOILING SPRINGS, N.C. – The Gardner-Webb women's basketball team used a dominating second half to send the squad past visiting North Carolina Central 73-60 in front of 417 fans Saturday evening in a non-conference contest.
The Bulldogs improve to 2-1 on the young season.
Margaret Roundtree poured in a team-best 21 points and nearly had a double-double as she pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Redshirt-junior Laura Povilonyte added 10 points while Dominique Hudson almost compiled a double-double with eight points and a near-school-record performance of seven assists in 26 minutes of action.
With the score tied at 24-24, which marked the fifth deadlock of the contest, Roundtree sliced through the defense for a lay-up with 7:23 to go in the first stanza. A moment later, Dominique Hudson canned a short jumper. GWU stretched its lead to six, 32-26, with 4:55 to play as Povilonyte pulled up for a short jumper on the break.
The Bulldogs would eventually make it a seven-point margin, 35-28, on a Roundtree free throw with 2:18 to play. A lay-up by LaVonna Hailey was the only scoring either team would have the rest of the half as head coach Rick Reeves' team made it a 35-30 game at intermission.
In the opening 20 minutes, GWU made the most of its opportunities, connecting on 10 second-chance points, which proved to be the difference in the half. The Bulldogs also got to the line 12 times, connecting on 10 attempts, in the stanza.
Roundtree's lay-up at the 11:22 mark in the second half gave the team its first double-digit working margin of the night. The Bulldogs continued to keep their lead near 10 points for the next five minutes. However, Jori Nwachukwu's three-point play sliced the lead to just seven with 6:01 to play.
Povilonyte answered right back with a lay-up. LaTroya Pope, who canned 10 points, pushed the lead to 11 on the next possession.
From there, GWU would keep at least a 13-point advantage the rest of the way and twice gained a 16-point lead in the contest.
For the game, GWU drilled 50 percent of its shots, netting 29-of-58 attempts from the floor. The squad made it easy on themselves as 19 of the 29 buckets were assisted. The Bulldogs dramatically improved their charity tosses tonight from last contest. The Red and Black hit 12-of-16 shots in the game.
For the first time all season, GWU was unable to pull down at least 50 rebounds, but the team still had a 15-rebound advantage over the visitors. The Bulldogs grabbed 42 while NCCU had 27.
The Bulldogs return to action Tuesday night as they play host to
South Carolina State at 7 p.m.
| Box Score |
