January 25, 2012

Women’s Basketball Loses to Catawba at the Buzzer

Carlson scores 20 points in the contest

Box score

MARS HILL, N.C. - Chloe Bully hit a 3-pointer with three seconds left in regulation to lift the Catawba College women's basketball team to a 71-69 victory Wednesday night in Stanford Arena. Mars Hill fell to 10-8 overall and 3-6 in the SAC. The Catawba Indians improved to 12-5 on the season and 7-2 in the league.

Tyler Carlson was the game's leading scorer with 20 points. She added six rebounds and two assists. Ansley Ricker followed with 12 points while Danielle Tucker recorded 11 points and pulled down five boards. Jackie Simon rounded out the double-digit scorers for MHC with 10 markers. Catawba won the rebound battle, 45-36. MHC shot 40.6% (28-69) from the floor in the game.

Erica Warren put Mars Hill up 69-68 on a layup with 45 seconds remaining. Bully missed a shot at the other end with Warren getting the rebound. Dana Hicks stole the ball with 29 seconds left.

After a timeout with eight seconds remaining Nisha Long found Bully open off a pick and she hit the game-winner from behind the arc. After a MHC timeout with two ticks left, Ansley Ricker had a good look at a 3-pointer that barely missed its mark as the buzzer sounded.

Catawba shot just 4-of-17 from long range for the game, three from Bully, but made it count in the end. The Indians shot 45% overall and made 7-of-9 from the charity stripe. Bully finished with 17 points and seven rebounds.

Mars Hill had been down 62-47 with 8:09 left in the contest, but found their way back thanks to a 10-0 run in which Catawba missed seven straight shots. A three-pointer by Jackie Simon with 2:49 remaining put the Lions up 65-64. The lead would change five times until the end of the game as the back-and-forth began. Maggie Sullivan and Bully each made a layup to put the Indians back out in front 68-67 with just under two minutes left in regulation.

Catawba came out of halftime and turned a tie score quickly into a double-digit cushion inside of four minutes. At the 16:05 mark of the second half Sullivan's layup pushed Catawba out to a 44-34 lead.

The Lions roared to an early 7-0 lead out of the gate as Tyler Carlson started off her hot-shooting night with a trey. A steal and outlet pass from Long to Hicks led to an easy layup and Catawba's first lead of the half at 15-14 with 11:47 remaining.

Another Hicks' layup at 6:29 put the Lady Indians up 25-18, their largest lead of the first half. Three Catawba turnovers helped the Lions storm back and take the lead at 29-27 on a Carlson layup with 3:41 to go.

A layup and a jumper from Long would help the Lady Indians tie it up at halftime at 31 apiece.
Hicks had a complete game with 19 points, 13 rebounds and five assists. Long chipped in with 17 points, five assists and three rebounds.

MHC will host SAC rival Lenoir-Rhyne University on Saturday in Stanford Arena. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m.