Ace Easter (21) drains 3 of her career high 21 points.
Photo by Janson Silvers
Western Carolina (1-4) and UNC Greensboro (0-5) both came into the day looking for their first conference win of the season. With neither team having much success early in conference, the winning team would be looking at this as a game to jumpstart their season.
That team this Saturday, Jan. 24, turned out to be the hometown Catamounts who won the game rather handedly with a final score of 70-49.
Two of the top Southern Conference scorers were in action. Justin Taylor of Western Carolina and Lucy Mason of UNCG sit at number two and number five respectively in Southern Conference points per game.
Even with two prolific scorers, true freshman Ace Easter stole the show with a career high 21 points. She was getting her shot anywhere she wanted it, whether it was inside the paint, draining threes, or dropping in a few mid-range jumpers it looked like she could not be stopped.
“We were just playing great as a team and our energy was great so I just picked it up,” Easter said. She did more than just pick it up as she shot a blistering 69 percent from the field.
Although Easter stole the show in the second half it was truly a team effort for the Catamounts.
Lindsay Simpson scored all 10 of her points in the first half adding 2 three pointers which lifted the Cats to a 30 to 22 halftime lead, and Justin Taylor still got hers by dropping in 11. Erika Joseph and Brianne Mack both had near double doubles with Joseph getting eight points and nine boards and Mack having 9 points with 8 boards.
With this kind of all around performance head coach Karen Middleton hopes to build on this win.
“A great day, something we can definitely build on. Keep talking about what it looked like what it felt like, and that’s something that they were saying. This is what it feels like and this is what we need to do,” Middleton said.
Playing great defense, shooting well, and winning is exactly what the women’s basketball team hopes to continue as they travel to Greenville, SC to face the Paladins of Furman on Jan. 31.
