November 21, 2001
ATHENS, Ohio - The Furman women's basketball team downed Ohio 103-89 at the Convocation Center in Athens, Ohio Wednesday night . The Lady Paladins improve to 1-2, while the Bobcats fall to 0-2 on the year.
Furman's 103 points was the most points scored in one game by the Lady Paladins since a 105-86 win over Stetson on December 19, 1992.
Leading 42-38 at halftime, the visiting Lady Paladins turned up the tempo a notch in the second period. They earned their first double-digit lead at the 13:30 mark on a pair of free throws by Monica Pope and slowly continued to push that lead. Ohio cut its deficit to single digits with just under seven minutes remaining, but it got no closer than a five-point deficit with 4:32 left. A three-point goal by Deshara Shealey extended the margin to eight, and the Lady Paladins ended the game with a 6-2 run to break the century mark.
Furman committed just 16 turnovers to the Bobcats' 22, while the Lady Paladins were credited with 28 assists to Ohio's 19. They hit 60.6 percent of their field goal attempts, including a 68 percent clip in the second half, when they scored 61 points. The Bobcats did their best to keep pace on the offensive end, scoring 51 in the second period and shooting 55.4 percent for the contest. However, as Bria stressed, defense was the name of the game
Senior Cathy Szall (Columbus) helped lead the Bobcat offense with 23 points, making 8-of-12 field goal attempts. She also hit all five of her free throws, and Ohio as a team made 72 percent from the charity stripe. Sophomore Latreece Bagley (Dayton) was a perfect six-of-six from the field in 18 minutes off the bench, finishing the night with 13 points..
Shealey led all players with a career high 33 points on 14-of-18 shooting. She also had a team-high seven assists and made all seven of her second-half field goal attempts. Pope added 17 points and six assists off the Lady Paladin bench, and Alison Thomason tallied 12 points and six assists as well.
Furman will host Auburn Monday night at 7:00 p.m.