Columbus, Ga. —- The Catawba College women's basketball team picked up a season-opening win on Friday night, outlasting Lees-McRae 82-77 at the Lumpkin Center in Columbus, Ga. to kick off the 2025-26 campaign.
TEAM STATISTICS
- Catawba shot 30-for-72 (42 percent) from the field, while holding Lees-McRae to 22-of-58 (38 percent) from the floor
- The Catawba Indians were 7-for-20 (35 percent) from three-point range; the Bobcats made nine of 30 (30 percent) from long range
- LMC was 24-for-32 (75 percent) from the free throw line; Catawba went 15-of-24 (63 percent) at the charity stripe
- Lees-McRae out-rebounded Catawba 44-40; both teams had 10 second-chance points
- The Catawba Indians had 16 assists to 16 turnovers, while the Bobcats had 15 assists to 23 turnovers, but LMC led 19-18 in points off turnovers
- Catawba led in points in the paint (32-18), fastbreak points (13-9) and bench points (36-25)
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
- Mary Spry had a team-high 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting with five rebounds
- Brooklin Ingram drained five three-pointers with 17 points
- Saniya Wilson chipped in 16 points off the bench with six rebounds and four assists
- Sheree Gidney was the fourth Catawba Indian in double figures with 11 points
HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST QUARTER
- Catawba opened up a four-point lead after a Wilson jumper just over three minutes in
- Lees-McRae's free throw tied the game at 16 the 3:51 mark
- Catawba went on a 7-0 run with the last four points coming from Gidney
- Spry's jumper in the closing seconds of the quarter had the Catawba Indians leading 26-17 at the quarter break
SECOND QUARTER
- The lead grew to 17 points when Ingram's triple pushed Catawba's extended run to 18-1
- LMC whittled the deficit down to 10 points near the four-minute mark
- Spry helped build the Catawba lead back to 15 in the following couple minutes
- Wilson buried a jumper in the closing seconds to lead 47-31 heading into the halftime locker room
THIRD QUARTER
- An 11-0 run from Lees-McRae took a game-high 19-point deficit down to single digits near the midway point of the period
- Back-to-back buckets from Gidney helped curb the Bobcats' run
- The Catawba Indians led by 10 at the break, 62-52
FOURTH QUARTER
- A 5-0 personal run from Ingram got the Catawba lead back to 15 points
- An 11-2 Bobcats run got the Catawba lead all the way down to six points near the midway point
- LMC took the lead on a three-pointer at the 2:45 mark
- Jumpers from Spry and Wilson helped restore the Catawba lead
- Catawba salted the game away at the foul line, keeping the Bobcats from scoring for over two and a half game minutes to hold on for the win in the opener
UP NEXT
- Catawba closes out action in the opening weekend on Saturday, facing host Columbus State at 1:30
