By Horace Billings

Salisbury Post

Catawba’s women warmed up for their trip to Hawaii with a 73-58 victory over Coker in a non-conference game at Goodman Gym on Saturday.

It was the eighth straight win for Catawba.

The Indians will carry an 8-1 record to Hawaii where they will play on Dec. 19-20. They will leave Dec. 15 on the trip.

The men are headed in the opposite direction after a 78-61 loss at Lander. Jim Baker’s team fell to 2-5.

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Coach Angie Morton’s women got off to a slow start and then rolled to a 35-21 lead at halftime.

Catawba doubled the score on the visitors at 50-25 with 15:30 left to play. The Indians coasted the rest of the way.

Ten players took part in the scoring for Catawba.

Former West Rowan star Hillary Hampton, the team’s leading scorer, and Tamekia Foster each had 14 points. Corin Muldrow followed with 10.

Lauren Larsen led Coker, now 1-5, with 10 points.

“It was a good win,” said Morton. “I think we had the trip to Hawaii and school exams on our minds and we did not play as well as we wanted to. We got some good efforts and you can’t ask for more than that.”

Catawba made 38.2 percent (26 of 68) from the floor and was 18-of-21 from the foul line.

Coker actually jumped ahead 8-2 in the opening minutes, but Cameron Clark, a sophomore of Albemarle, ignited the Catawba offense with two straight 3-pointers, shoving the Lady Indians ahead to stay at 13-9.

Catawba doubled the score at

32-16 on a rally led by Foster.

The Lady Indians surged ahead by a 20-plus range after five minutes of the second half and held a comfortable margin for the rest of the game.

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In Greenwood, S.C., the free-throw line is where the Catawba men lost their game.

Jarred Jackson scored 24 points and the Lander Bearcats made 21 of 22 free throws.

Jackson hit 12 of 13 free throws to lead the Bearcats at the stripe.

Lander broke a three-game losing streak, improving to 4-4.

Lander had a double-digit lead during all but two possessions in the second half. Leading 36-25 at halftime, the Bearcats increased their advantage to 16 at 49-33 with 15:10 to go on a basket by Griffin. Catawba closed the gap to 59-50 with 8:05 left. But Lander scored eight unanswered points to make it 67-50 with 5:46 to go.

Antonio Houston paced Catawba with 15 points while Brian Graves added 10 points and four assists. Chris Woolridge paced the Indians with seven boards.

Catawba shot only 33 percent from the field and was only 13-of-23 from the foul line.

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NOTES: In the Hawaii Hoop ‘N Surf Classic, Catawba begins against Concordia-St. Paul on Dec. 19. The Indians will meet BYU-Hawaii the next day. … Lander’s men pays a visit Catawba Dec. 17.