Staff report

HICKORY —Catawba’s women have struggled on the road this season — but not Wednesday.

Catawba put together one of its better outings and beat Lenoir-Rhyne, 82-74.

Catawba trailed early by as many as eight points, but a big second quarter lifted the Indians (10-7, 5-5) back into the game against the Bears (9-9, 4-6) in a South Atlantic Conference struggle between two middle-of-the-pack teams.

Catawba got a career-high 18 points from sophomore Anna Gardner on 7-for-11 shooting.

“She played confident,” Catawba coach Terrence Baxter said. “We’ve been asking her to be herself since she arrived on campus. I told her she had the green light tonight and she told us she was going to play her game — and then she went out and did that.”

Talia Barnes scored 17 for the Indians, while Taisha DeShazo had 13. Shemya Stanback grabbed 10 rebounds.

“Stanback crashed hard, but she stayed out of foul trouble tonight,” Baxter said. “She played a great game with zero turnovers.”

Catawba shot the ball well from the 3-point line (8-for-22) and was outstanding at the foul line (16-for-17).

Gardner was the difference-maker in the fourth quarter, making three 3-pointers and scoring 13 points.

Catawba scored 28 in the fourth quarter and is now 3-5 on the road.

Kendall Toineeta scored 25 for the Bears.

CATAWBA (82) — Stanback 2, DeShazo 13, Hallman 8, Webb 4, Gardner 18, Garris 9, Wampler 5, Barnes 17, Phillips 6.

LENOIR-RHYNE (74) — McBride, Toineeta 25, Weigt 14, Hardy 8, Rodriguez 2, DeLucas, Bearden 8, Alyssa Wagner, Allie Wagner, Nunn 2, Suddreth 15, Smith.

Catawba            19    22    13    28 — 82

Lenoir-Rhyne   23    14    12    25 — 74