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Catawba College’s women’s basketball team staged perhaps its best performance of the season, rolling over Wingate University by 85-63 in at Goodman Gym Wednesday night.
Catawba tightened its grip on first place in the SAC race with their 10th win against a single loss. They improved to 19-4 overall.
Catawba, winning its sixth straight game and 11th in the past 12 outings, can clinch at least a tie for the conference regular-season title with two wins in its three remaining games. It also was the 10th straight homecourt win for coach John Duncan’s team.
Catawba jumped ahead by 10-4 and trailed only once at 20-19. The Indians then took complete charge and roared to a 44-27 lead at halftime.
Catawba enjoyed a 34-point advantage on two occasions in the last half.
It was Catawba’s second win over Wingate this season.
“I thought we played excellent basketball,” said Duncan, who recently became the winningest women’s coach at Catawba.
“We ran the court well and got some layups,”Duncan added, “and we did an excellent job getting the basketball inside. We also did an outstanding job on defense.”
Catawba’s defense forced 20 turnovers in the first half and 28 for the game.
On offense, the Indians made 50 percent of their shots (34 of 68).
Danyel Locklear, a freshman forward, provided the big spark on offense. She scored a career-high 22 points, beat the 21 she scored against Mars Hill Saturday. She made seven of 10 from he field and sank eight of nine at the foul line.
Donna Carr and Ella Pasola followed with 12 apiece. Erin Buckland added 10. Ten players scored.
Tricia Peckham led Wingate with 19.
Wingate made 36.9 percent (24 of 65) from the floor in the face of a stout Catawba defense.
Duncan was impressed by Locklear”s performance.
“Locklear has a lot of talent,” Duncan pointed out. “She is very athletic and strong. She is a very hard worker.”
“We came out very focused on what we wanted to do,” said Locklear. “We were more focused than any game we’ve played this season. I played as hard as I could. This is our house and we didn’t want to lose here. We now want to win our final three conference games and then go all the way in the playoffs.”
Carr put in three hoops and Locklear and Pasola had one apiece as the Indians charged ahead by 10-4 at the start of the game.
Buckland and Sata Puolitaival sparked Catawba to a 31-23 advantage. The Indians went on to take a comfortable 44-27 advantage at halftime.
Locklear led the Indians to a 53-32 lead after four minutes into the second half. Catawba then went on to lead by 34 on two occasions.
The Indians held an 82-48 lead with 3:40 remaining. They might have won by a wider margin, but they got only a 3-point goal by Katrina Mitchell during the rest of the game.
The Indians will shoot for their third 20-win season and take a step closer to the season’s title when they visit Newberry Saturday afternoon at 2.
WINGATE (63) — Rogers 4, Laettner 2, Dawkins 6, Peckham 19, Edwards 5, Biedrycki 2, Ezzell 1, Boggess 7, Dailey 9, Patterson 6, Adams 2.
CATAWBA (85) — Locklear 22, Little 6, Carr 12, Pasola 12, Brice 8, Buckland 10, Timola 2, Powell, Puolitaival 7, Stockton 1, Pugh, Mitchell 5, Cartwright, Hunjo.
Wingate 27 36 — 63
Catawba 44 41 — 85
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