Lady Indians Defeat Pfeiffer 65-52

STAFF REPORTS
SALISBURY POST

Catawba's Lady Indians took advantage of Pfeiffer's ice-cold shooting in the first half and rolled to a 65-52 victory over the Lady Falcons in a non-conference college basketball game at Goodman Gym Tuesday night.

The Lady Indians raced to a 26-10 lead at halftime when Lady Falcons made only 11.5 percent (93-for-26) of their field goal shots in the first 20 minutes of play.

Pfeiffer bounced back from the cold start to outscore Catawba by 42-39 in the last half. The Lady Falcons made 51.6 percent (16-for-31) in the final half.

It was the ninth win against a single loss for Catawba, which closed out his pre-Christmas schedule.

The loss left Pfeiffer with a 3-5 record.

Catawba will end its pre-holiday schedule at Queens in Charlotte Saturday night.

"It was a sloppy game," said Coach John Duncan of Catawba after both teams together had 58 turnovers. Catawba lost the basketball 28 times and Pfeiffer turned it over on 30 occasions.

"I don't know what the problem was," added Duncan. "We are capable of playing better than we did, and that's what I told our players after the game. You have to give credit to Pfeiffer. They came back and made a game out of it. I knew they had a good team."

Pfeiffer, which trailed by 21 points four times in the last half, rallied down the stretch to close to gap to 11 at 53-42 with less than a minute to go.

Candace Phifer, held to two points in the first half, ripped the nets for 18 in the last half to spark the Pfeiffer comeback. She finished with a game-high 20.

Phifer and Brandi Dodson scored the first two field goals for Pfeiffer before five minutes had elapsed.

Then the Lady Falcons went almost 11 minutes without a field goal. Mindy Kostorick broke the cold spell with a 3-pointer with 4:20 remaining in the half. Catawba led 22-10 at the time.

Two goals by Candice Brown in the last 16 seconds gave Catawba a 26-10 lead at intermission.

The Lady Indians managed a good lead for the rest of the game.

Tabitha Mouhot, who returned to action last week after being sidelined with an injury, led Catawba with 13 points. She played 20 minutes. Vuokko Timola followed with 11, and Brown added nine.