A comeback to remember.
That’s what Catawba’s women’s basketball team used to nudge Wingate 73-72 in the opening round of the Food Lion South Atlantic Conference basketball tournament here at Goodman GymTuesday night.
The third-seeded Indians also showed they could not be counted out even when they trailed by 16 points with 10 minutes to play.
The victory advances the Lady Indians to the SAC semifinals against second-seeded Presbyterian on Friday night at 8 p.m. at Catawba Valley Community College in Hickory.
It took an up-down-and-up again performance for coach John Duncan’s defending SAC champions to get the hard-earned win and stay in the running for a second straight championship.
Catawba (21-6) bolted ahead 37-30 at the end of the first half but then turned ice cold. The Indians were outscored 21-1 in the first eight minutes of the second half, falling behind 51-38.
But they had other ideas, answering a challenge from Duncan and pulling out the win.
“We challenged our ladies to go out and give us their best effort and play with confidence when we were down by 16,” said Duncan.
Catawba went on a 29-10 scoring spree to take a 71-68 lead.
A pair of free throws by Dorthell Little provided the edge after Isiaette Darden had given Catawba a 69-66 lead with 1:08 left to play.
A basket by Kari Ezzell pulled Wingate to within 71-70 with 21 seconds left.
Little added a free throw for a 72-70 edge with 21 seconds showing. Teammate Emilee Rangel was later fouled and she made the front end of two shots for a 3-point advantage. Wingate scored at the buzzer.
The Indians got scoring from 10 of their 11 players. Ashley Cox led the attack with 17. Little followed with l2, Ella Pasola had 11 and Darden scored 10.
NOTES: Presbyterian (20-7) advanced with an 83-55 win over Tusculum (8-19). ... In other games, top-seeded Mars Hill rolled over No. 8 Newberry, 101-47, and No. 5 Lenoir-Rhyne defeated No. 4 Carson-Newman 85-76.
WINGATE (72) — Rogers 24, Biedrycki 18, Laettner 7, Ezzell 7, Crutchfield 5, Dailey 5, Boggess 3, Law 3, Lambert.
CATAWBA (73) — Cox 17, Little 12, Pasola 11, Darden 10, Locklear 7, Valentine 4, Pugh 3, Tate 3, Prescott 3, Morancie 2, Rangel 1, Kaufman, Carmon.
Wingate 30 42 — 72
Catawba 37 36 — 73
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