The Lady Catamounts basketball team pounded Appalachian State in the Ramsey Center on Saturday, Feb. 7 to gain some retribution for the men’s team who fell to the Mountaineers last month.
When the Appalachian Stated rolled into town, they were looking to prolong Western Carolina’s three game losing streak, but the Lady Catamounts had other ideas. The Catamounts used a balanced attack offensively to put 75 points up on the scoreboard, defeating the Mountaineers 75-50. 11 of the Lady Catamounts 12 players scored in the game and the Catamounts were led by Brooke Johnson with 12 points and four rebounds. Johnson also picked up a block against the Mountaineers, moving her to within 20 of the school’s all time record. Johnson was joined in double figures by teammate and fellow senior Kendra Eaton who chipped in 10 points and six rebounds.
Western Carolina, coming in after three consecutive losses, needed to start the game strong and get momentum on their side. In the first half, they outscored their opponents 46-23. The Lady Catamounts used a 21-4 run over a seven minute span to propel them to a 25 point lead. The Mountaineers had no answer defensively for the Catamounts who shot 57 percent and dominated the rebound battle. The Lady Catamounts came out after halftime and didn’t let up in the first thirteen minutes of the second half, going on a 20-10 run to extend their lead to 33 points, the largest lead of the game for Western. The Catamounts were not only on fire offensively, but they played stifling defense, forcing the Mountaineers into 27 turnovers. As a team, the Catamounts had 13 steals, a season high, and were led by Diamond Hunnicutt who pick pocketed the ball four times, setting a career high. While forcing turnovers , they converted them into points at the other end of the floor, as the Lady Catamounts were able to capitalize on Appalachian’s mistakes by scoring 30 points off turnovers.
The performance against the Mountaineers was a complete game from Western as they played well defensively, offensively and got contributions from all of its players. Western got 37 points from the bench, more than double the total Appalachian got from their reserves. The Mountaineers also lost the second chance points battle to the Catamounts 17-3.
Appalachian State was lead by Brittany Spencer who scored a game high 13 points. The one bright spot for the Mountaineers was that they were able to get eight rejections in the game; five of the blocks came courtesy of Brittany Spencer who had 12 points and five blocks.
With the win, Western Carolina moved to 12-11, 8-6 in the Southern Conference.
