WILMINGTON, North Carolina – Senior guard
Justin Taylor (Gastonia, N.C.) scored 14 of her game-high 24 points in the second half as Western Carolina University (3-3) rallied from a seven-point halftime deficit to earn its second win in the last three games, a 64-53 non-conference victory over UNCW (2-3) in the final game of the 2014 UNCW Hampton Inn Thanksgiving Classic at Trask Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing by a 35-28 margin at the intermission, the Catamounts scored the first 10 points of the second half to take a 38-35 lead with 14:08 remaining. Taylor and freshman forward
Sherae Bonner (Central H.S./Whitesburg, Ga.) each scored four points during the spurt.
After the Seahawks battled back to tie the game at 42-42 with 10:03 left, the Catamounts used an 11-3 spurt over the next four-plus minutes to regain a 53-45 edge with 5:56 remaining.
UNCW closed the margin to 57-53 with 3:12 left on a jumper by senior guard
Kelva Atkins (Granville Central H.S./Stem, N.C.), but the Catamounts closed the game by scoring the final seven points to secure the victory.
Led by a pair of three-point field goals from sophomore guard
Johanna McMillan (Sanford School/Mullica Hill, N.J.), the Seahawks sprinted out to a 10-2 lead in the opening 2:36 of the first half. The Catamounts narrowed the margin to 12-11 with a three-point field goal by Taylor with 14:39 remaining in the opening stanza before UNCW put together an 11-2 run to extend its cushion to 23-13 with 8:58 left.
The Catamounts trimmed the margin to 29-28 with 2:35 remaining in the first half before the Seahawks tallied the final six points of the period to take a 35-28 lead into the intermission.
Taylor, who scored 20 or more points for the third time this season, made 9 of 13 shots from the floor, including a 2-for-3 effort from three-point range, and connected on four of five free throws. She also added six rebounds and three assists.
Sophomore guard
Brie Mobley (Winter Haven H.S./Winter Haven, Fla.) led the Seahawks by scoring 18 points with three rebounds. She connected on 9 of 17 field goal attempts and contributed three rebounds with two assists and two steals.
Atkins added nine points with three rebounds and four assists for the Seahawks, who have lost three games in a row after a 2-0 start.
The Seahawks will continue their six-game homestand on Tuesday, Dec. 2 by facing former Colonial Athletic Association rival VCU at Trask Coliseum. The game is scheduled to tip-off at 7 p.m.
