Hartsville, S.C. —- The 4th-ranked Catawba College women's basketball team earned a double-digit win on the road Wednesday evening at Coker in their return to action in 2024 at the DeLoach Center in South Atlantic Conference women's basketball action. The Catawba Indians improve to 9-1 overall and 4-0 in league play with the victory.
TEAM STATS
- Catawba shot 31-of-66 (47 percent) from the field, while holding Coker to 24-for-70 (34 percent) from the floor
- The Catawba Indians shot 7-of-21 (33 percent) from three-point range; the Cobras were 5-for-20 (25 percent) from deep
- CU was 19-of-22 (86 percent) from the free throw line, while Catawba was 15-for-22 (68 percent) from the charity stripe
- The Catawba Indians out-rebounded Coker 45-42, but the Cobras' 18 offensive rebounds allowed them to take a 14-11 advantage in second chance points
- Coker recorded 11 assists to 21 turnovers, while forcing Catawba to 23 turnovers and nine assists; the Cobras held a slight 27-25 edge in points off turnovers
- Catawba held a huge 46-26 advantage in points in the paint, while also leading 15-11 in fastbreak points and 21-19 in bench points
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
- Lyrik Thorne notched her fourth 20-point game of the season with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting, four rebounds, three assists and four steals
- Thorne rose to third on the program's all-time scoring list in the win with 1,768 points
- Janiya Downs added 15 points and six boards
- Jada Porter also scored 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting with a game-high three triples
- Sara McIntosh pitched in nine points and a team-high seven rebounds with three steals
- Brooklin Ingram came off the bench for five points and four rebounds
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST QUARTER
- The teams got off to a quick start scoring, with the teams tied at 5 less than two minutes in
- Coker's Shawntenna Tillman converted a pair of free throws to take a 12-10 lead at the midway point of the first quarter
- Baskets from Janiya Foskey and Mary Spry took the lead back for the Catawba Indians
- Catawba opened up a five-point lead after an and-one from McIntosh with two minutes left
- The visitors ended the last three minutes of the opening frame on a 14-5 run, taking a 28-19 lead after 10 minutes on Thorne's late three-pointer
SECOND QUARTER
- Back-to-back baskets from Downs and Thorne pushed the Catawba lead to double digits
- Spry's pair of free throws made it a 36-22 Catawba lead at the 6:09 mark
- Later, Thorne buried a three-pointer to push the Catawba Indian lead to 16 points
- Coker responded with six of the next eight points to force a Catawba timeout with 1:31 left in the half
- McIntosh answered with back-to-back scores as Catawba led 47-38 at the halftime break
THIRD QUARTER
- Porter scored the first five points of the second half to push Catawba's edge to 52-38 in the first two minutes
- Coker cut the Catawba Indian lead to 10 points until the visitors answered back with six straight points to regain a comfortable lead
- The Catawba lead bounced between 14 and 19 points the rest of the quarter, leading 71-54 heading into the final 10 minutes
FOURTH QUARTER
- Porter's triple brought the Catawba lead to 20 points for the first time at the 8:48 mark, leading 78-58
- The lead got to as much as 23 points after Ingram's jumper at the 4:08 mark
- The Cobras ended the game on an 11-0 run with the result never in doubt
UP NEXT
- The Catawba Indians remain on the road on Saturday, traveling to Emory & Henry for a SAC matchup with the Wasps at 4 p.m.
