We opened up this Southern Conference rivalry between the Lady Terriers and the Lady Paladins at Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium. BOth teams are very evenly matched up and it started out very fast paced. Both teams were going up and down the cout. Wofford opened up an early lead thanks to the hot 3 point shooting of Helen Matthews. She opened up with 2 quick 3’s and put the Terriers up 16-12. Both teams pushed the pace as both teams scored most of their points in transition. Coming out of the first timeout Furman opened up in a press to try to slow down the Terriers offense. They were able to force Wofford into some contested shots as the first quarter came to a close it Was Wofford up 22-19.
The 2nd quarter opened up with another 3 from Mathews who continued her hot hand to put Wofford up 25-19. However, both teams would cool off and with 4:44 left in the 2nd quarter Wofford would be holding on to a 31-21 lead. Furman would come out of the timeout and open up with a 2 point turn around jump shot from Kate Johnson to cut ino the lead from a turnaround jump shot which was a thing of beauty from Kate Johnson. This would make the Wofford lead 31-23. After that shot it was a tough ending to the half for the Paladins as the Terriers would close out with 6-0 run to carry a 37-23 lead into the half. Wofford was scorching the nets shooting 56% from behind the arc
The 2nd half would start out with Furman trying to work the ball inside to Johnson but the stingy Wofford defense would continue to make things tough down low. The Terriers would open up the half with 7-2 run and open up a 44-25 lead with 6:30 left in the 3rd quarter. Jada Seesion would try to cool them down as she followed up with a 3 of her own.The Terriers would then follow up with a pair of 3’s of their own and Paladins would then need a time out. With 5:45 left in the 3rd the Terriers would be up 50-27. The 3rd quarter was marked by great defense on the Terriers side. They would get a beautiful block by Maddie Heiss on fast breark and then they would follow up with block on a 3 pointer. Wofford would ride this momentum to a 57-37 lead.
We would lead off the 4th quarter with a couple of turnovers on both sides. However, Wofford would then begin to mount a comeback as the they were able to the inside game going on with Jada Session closing an 11-2 run whch would have them closing the lead to 58-48. Evangelia Paulk would follow up a timeout with a key steal to end the run and Molly Massengale would follow up with a big time 3 pointer whihc would then give the Terriers a 63-48 lead at the 4 minute mark in the 4th quarter.. After the timeout the Terrier would focus more on draining the clock to try to close this game out and take 68-51 victory.
The leading scorers for the evening Evangelia Paulk finishing with 18 point followed by Helen Matthews with 16. Furman was lead by Jada Session with 11. The keys to game were 3 point shooting as Wofford finished at 48% while Furman finished at 26%. Next both teams will have big games as Wofford will play host to a very tough UNC Greensboro team while Furman will host Western Carolina. I was able to catch up with Terriers coach Jimmy Garrity to get his thoughts on the game.
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