February 14, 2009

MARS HILL, N.C. - Brooke Whitley (New London, N.C.) hit a three-pointer from the corner with six seconds left in the game to give Catawba an 84-83 win over Mars Hill Saturday inside Stanford Arena. The Catawba Indians improve to 14-9 overall and 6-6 in the SAC. The Lions fall to 12-12 overall and 5-8 in the SAC.

Before the game, seniors Jessica Blanford (Concord, N.C.), Danielle Francis (Bamberg, S.C.), Shannon Lee (Four Oaks, N.C.), Ariel Okunowo (Decatur, Ga.) and Shamia Terry (Greenville, S.C.) were honored for their hard work and dedication over the last four years.

Making the first start of her career, Francis had two buckets in the early going, including a 15-footer, to give the Lions an 8-5 lead at the 17:32 mark. Catawba came back with a 6-0 run, capped by a Nisha Long (Dallas, N.C.) layup with 16:28 left in the half.

Trailing 17-14, Mars Hill went on a 10-2 run in a span of 2:25. Okunowo scored four consecutive points, including a fastbreak layup, to conclude the run and give the Lions a five point lead, 24-19, at the 11:42 mark.

Catawba tied the game 28-all off a Brittany Higgins (Takoma Park, Md.) jump shot with 6:59 left in the first half. From there, Mars Hill went on a 16-6 run. Two fastbreak layups by Francis and Okunowo finished off the spurt and made the score 44-36 in favor of the Lions.

Kisha Long (Dallas, N.C.) hit a layup with two seconds remaining in the half, but Mars Hill led 47-42 at intermission.

Dana Hicks (York, S.C.) had 13 at the midway point for Catawba. Okunowo had 13 for Mars Hill, while Terry had 10.

Whitley opened the second half scoring with a jumper to cut the deficit to 47-44 in favor of Mars Hill.

Leading 57-56, the Lions went on an 8-0 run. Okunowo drained back to back three-pointers to give Mars Hill a nine point lead, 65-56, with 12:01 left in the game. A Young shot from behind the arc gave the Lions their largest lead of the game, 75-62, with 7:30 left in the game.

Trailing 77-64, Catawba went on a 10-0 run. A Nisha Long layup finished off the spurt. A free throw by Hicks cut the game to 78-77.

Hicks made a layup with 23 seconds left in the game to cut the deficit to one point, 82-81, in favor of Mars Hill. Young was fouled and made 1-2 free throws with 14 seconds left to give the Lions an 83-81 advantage before Whitley's game changing play on the next possession. A Young desperation heave from half court at the end bounced off the front of the rim.

Hicks finished posted a double-double with 23 points and 11 rebounds. Higgins had 13 points. Kisha Long had 12 points. Whitley netted 11 points. Cameron Clark (Albemarle, N.C.) had 10 points.

Okunowo scored a season-high 21 points and was 8-12 from the field. Young poured in 16 points. Terry recorded a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Blanford had 10 points. She now has scored 1,031 career points and moved past Jackie Shelton (1,026 career points) for 21st on the school's all-time scoring list.

Mars Hill will host Wingate Wednesday night at 6 p.m. inside Stanford Arena. Tip-time is set for 6 p.m.

Season Stats...

#####