Lady Indians Win 17th
Catawba battling for first place in SAC

BY HORACE BILLINGS
SALISBURY POST

Catawba's Lady Indians continue to pull off surprises on the basketball court.

The Lady Indians opened the campaign with the best start (8-0) in school history.

And they have been battling for first place in the South Atlantic Conference all season.

Catawba realized at least part of that goal by scoring a come-from-behind 62-50 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne here Wednesday night at Goodman Gym.

The victory elevated the Lady Indians into a tie with Wingate for the conference. Both teams have 6-1 SAC records.

Coach John Duncan's crew improved to 17-2 and leaped to fifth place in the NCAA Division II South Atlantic Region rankings.

The Lady Indians trailed throughout the first half. They got off to a slow start, scoring only two field goals Ð a 2-pointer by Lakai Brice and a 3-pointer by Vuokko Timola Ð and two free throws by Tabitha Mouhot in the first 10 minutes. They trailed by 13-7 at the time.

Catawba fell nine points behind by 26-17 with 3:14 left in the first half. They closed the gap to 28-24 at intermission.

Catawba began to take charge early in the second half. The Lady Indians got their first lead at 38-37 on a goal by Erin Buckland with 13:46 left to play.

Catawba went on to outscore Lenoir-Rhyne by 38-22 in the last half. The Lady Indians capped off the win byoutscoring the visitors, 11-3, in the last 3:18.

It was Catawba's fourth straight victory and its ninth win in the past 10 games.

''This date was supposed to be a bye on our schedule,'' explained Duncan, ''and I think our players look at it that way. We didn't show up too well in the first half. We did better in the last half. We moved the basketball around and played better defense.'' Catawba allowed the Lady Bears only nine field goals in the last half.

''Fortunately, we were able to get back on track in time in the last half to get the win. We knew it would be a tough game.''

Duncan, naturally, is proud of his team's surge to the top of the SAC standings.

''You like to be in front of the pack instead of the middle where you have to run around so many people to get out front. Hopefully, we can continue to play well. We have a lot of challenges ahead of us.''

Brice, leading Catawba scorer with a 12.7 average, combined with Timola to lead the last-half surge. Brice, who had four points in the first half, scored 12 in the second half, finishing with 16. She had two 3-pointers.

Timola collected 13 and 10 of them came in the last half. She had three 3-pointers.

It was a rugged game. Together, the teams were charged with 40 turnovers (Catawba 18 and Lenoir-Rhyne 22).