College women’s basketball: Indians cruise to another win

Published 2:11 am Thursday, February 2, 2023

Staff report

ELIZABETH CITY — First of all, Elizabeth City is considerably closer to Salisbury, Md., than to Salisbury, N.C.

One thing about making an athletic trip from Catawba to Elizabeth City State is that you’ve got about five hours of good team bonding ahead of you.

Catawba bonded and got a win when the bus finally reached its destination on Wednesday night — Indians 67, Vikings 51.

There wasn’t a ton of drama in the non-conference contest. That was a good thing.

Catawba (16-4) held the Vikings to 22 points in the first half, built a 13-point lead with the help of two Jada Porter 3-pointers, and then put the game away in the third quarter.

Catawba led by as many as 25 points, but it’s not like Elizabeth City State is bad.

The Vikings (14-6) had won four in row and they beat Lincoln, the first-place team in the CIAA, four days before they welcomed Catawba to the Vaughan Center.

Porter had one of her hot games. That helped. Her 15 points came on deadly 6-for-7 shooting.

Lyrik Thorne had a terrific game, with four assists, four steals — and zero turnovers — to go with her 13 points.

Janiya Downs continues to play well. The former South Rowan phenom had 12 points and six rebounds.

Catawba shot 50 percent and the Indians won’t lose many when they shoot 50 percent.

NyAsia Blango scored 18 points for Elizabeth City State, all on 3-pointers.

Catawba plays at home on Saturday at 2 p.m. against Carson-Newman.

 

Catawba    15   20    21    11   — 67

ECSU         11   11     11     18  — 51

Catawba scoring — Porter 15, Thorne 13, Downs 12, McIntosh 7, Dubose 6, Spry 5, Baker 5, Wampler 3, Helpman 1.