Pope Reaches 500 Career Rebounds, as GWU Holds Off Lady Eagles for 62-54 Home Win
December 08, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Boiling Springs, N.C. - Gardner-Webb senior forward LaTroya Pope hauled in her 500th career rebound early in the contest, while the Runnin' Bulldogs used a strong first half to defeat the Lady Eagles of North Carolina Central 62-54 on Tuesday night in Paul Porter Arena.
Gardner-Webb held on to a 24-14 lead when N.C. Central's Chasidy Williams hit a layup in the paint for the Lady Eagles to cut the home team's lead to eight at 24-16 with 9:15 to go in the opening half.
That basket would be the last points for the Lady Eagles for the rest of the first half, as Gardner-Webb clamped down defensively to force NCCU into 17 first half turnovers and ran out to a 12-0 run to finish the half and take a 36-16 halftime lead.
Gardner-Webb held NCCU to eight made field goals in the first 20 minutes of play, as the Lady Eagles were 8-of-22 for 36.4 percent from the field, while GWU was 16-of-37 for 43.2 percent from the floor in the first 20 minutes of play.
The Runnin' Bulldogs started the second half the way it finished the first, holding the Lady Eagles off the scoreboard for the first two minutes of play before a layup by Jori Nwachukwu at the 17:42 mark ended the Lady Eagles scoring drought of nearly 11 minutes and cut the Gardner-Webb lead to 20 at 38-18.
Gardner-Webb pushed its lead to as high as 25 points on a three-pointer from senior guard Monique Hudson with 11:47 to go in regulation.
However, the game was not over, as the Lady Eagles clawed its way back into the game with layups and free throws, cutting the Gardner-Webb lead to 14 on a layup by Sheresa Mills with 5:13 in the contest.
NCCU then scored the next three points to cut the GWU lead to 11 at 57-46 with 3:45 to play, making the Gardner-Webb faithful begin to sweat as time continued to count down.
After a Monique Hudson free throw pushed the lead back up to 12, NCCU scored six straight points to cut the Runnin' Bulldogs lead to six at 58-52 with 1:28 to play.
A driving layup by Monique Hudson with 1:18 on the clock and another slashing layup by Dominique Hudson with 40 seconds to go in the contest, helped the Runnin' Bulldogs hold off the Lady Eagles for the 62-54 home win.
Gardner-Webb outscored NCCU 20-0 in bench points and 24-13 in points off turnovers for the game. NCCU shot 50 percent from the floor for the game, including going 12-of-18 for 66.7 percent in the second half, while Gardner-Webb was 27-of-67 for the game, 40.3 percent.
Monique Hudson posted a team-high 14 points in 38 minutes of play, while senior Sandra Vaitkute had 13 points and five rebounds in 24 minutes of action. Dominique Hudson dished out a game-high seven assists, while Pope had six rebounds and nine points in the win.
For NCCU, Nwachukwu and Williams each had 17 points apiece, while Blaire Houston added 12 points from the point guard spot.
The win is GWU's fourth straight, its longest winning streak of the young season.
Gardner-Webb (6-3) will not return to action for nine days, as the Runnin' Bulldogs will remain at home to host Converse College at 7 p.m. on Thursday, December 16th, in Paul Porter Arena.
N.C. Central (1-7) will remain on the road to take on Campbell on December 14th.
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| Box Score: Gardner-Webb 62, N.C. Central 54 |
