Feb. 26, 2009

Final Stats

SPARTANBURG, S.C. - A career-high 22 points and eight rebounds from freshman Chelsey Peterson (Irmo, S.C./Dutch Fork) helped lead the USC Upstate women's basketball team to a 71-59 Atlantic Sun Conference win over Mercer on Thursday evening in the Hodge Center.

The win snapped a four-game skid for the Spartans (12-16 overall, 7-12 A-Sun) and kept the Spartans in at least a tie for seventh place with one game left in the season after finishing in a tie for last in 2008-09, ironically, with the Bears (15-13 overall, 11-8 A-Sun), who were second in the nation in best turnarounds from 2007-08 and could garner a No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the A-Sun Championships.

Peterson, who seemed like she was always running ahead of the pack and near the loose balls, finished with 8-for-10 from the floor, 6-for-8 from the free-throw line and added two assists and two steals. Four other Spartans finished in double figures, with junior Courtney Hawkins (Greer, S.C./Greer) adding 15 points, both freshman Kendra Wallace (Hurricane, W.Va./Nitro) and junior Kolesia Richardson (Mary Esther, Fla./Santa Fe C.C.) adding 11 and sophomore Chelsea McMillan (Quincy, Fla./Santa Fe C.C.) adding 10.

"This was a great win," Upstate head coach Tammy George said. "Mercer is a very improved team and we have been struggling for a couple weeks. We played with intensity, forced mistakes and got to push tempo. It was great to see Chelsey play as well as she did, because, in a lot of ways, that meant that we got to play are game. She scores buckets on layups and we got a lot of those (Thursday)."

Upstate got out to a quick 10-2 lead with Peterson scoring eight of those points in the first 3:30, posting all eight in the paint and combined with the other two points from Hawkins, four were on fast breaks.

The Bears followed with 16-2 run of their own to take an 18-12 lead with 10:35 left before two layups from McMillan cut the lead to two points, and she completed an old-fashioned three-point play to make it 18-17 with 7:57 left. After a Mercer layup, senior Cherale Powell (Wilkesboro, N.C./Wilkes C.C.) found Hawkins, who canned a 3-pointer to tie the game at 20. After a missed Bears shot, the Spartans had a shot blocked in the paint, Wallace came up with the rebound and fired out to Hawkins, who hit a 3-pointer as the shot clock wound down. The Spartans didn't trail again and a layup in the paint on a give from Hawkins helped the Spartans take a 30-24 lead into the locker room.

Foul trouble hurt the Bears comeback efforts in the second half, as the Spartans entered the bonus with 13:58 left in the half, as two free throws from Richardson gave Upstate a 39-32 lead. The Bears cut the lead to five points, but a traditional three-point play by Peterson gave Upstate an eight-point lead and the Bears could cut the lead to no less than seven the rest of the way.

Upstate got the lead to a game-high 14 points after a pair of free throws from Hawkins with 1:11 left and held on for the final margin of 12 points.

Hawkins, who moved within 24 points of becoming the 12th player in school history to post 1,000 career points, had two 3-pointers, five rebounds, five assists and two steals. McMillan had seven rebounds and two blocks and Wallace notched career highs of eight rebounds and four assists to go with two assists. Richardson notched three steals and five rebounds.

Dominique Chism led the Bears, scoring 26 points, adding 14 rebounds and six steals. LaToya Jackson was the only other player for the Bears to score in double figures, finishing with 11 points, four rebounds and three assists.

The Spartans wrap up the year with a home doubleheader, facing Kennesaw State at the Hodge Center on Saturday, with the men's teams playing at 1 p.m. and the women wrapping up the 2008-09 season at 4 p.m.

Notes
- Freshman Kendra Wallace hit three 3-pointers, marking the 25th game this season that she canned at least one trey ... she is just the third player in school history to hit 70 3-pointers in a season and has hit 70 this year.
- At least four players finished in double figures for the seventh time this season.
- Junior Kolesia Richardson has scored in double figures in each of the last four games.
- Freshman Kendra Wallace tied a career high with four assists.
- Sophomore Chelsea McMillan became the fifth player in school history to reach 40 blocked shots in a season with her second of the night.