Jan. 19, 2008

Final Stats

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A milestone day for junior Ebony Johnson (Columbia, S.C./Ridgeview), who reached 400 career points, 300 career rebounds and 25 career blocked shots in the contest, was not enough for the USC Upstate women's basketball team, as a hot-shooting Belmont shot 52.5 percent from the field en route to an 89-63 win in Atlantic Sun Conference action at the Curb Events Center on Saturday evening.

Johnson, who finished with a season-high 14 points, five rebounds, three assists and a block, became the 27th Spartan to reach 300 rebounds and just the 11th to reach 25 career rejections. Sophomore Courtney Hawkins (Greer, S.C./Greer) added a team-high 18 points to pace the Spartans and classmate Shanea Wyant (Lafayette, Ind./Lafayette Jefferson) posted 15 points, including a career-high three 3-pointers for Upstate (4-13 overall, 0-4 A-Sun).

"We're very proud of Ebony," Upstate head coach Tammy George said. "She's playing with some pain, with a little bit of a stress fracture returning, but she's battling and playing some big minutes for us. With her athleticism, she can play in the post and is doing a great job for us there."

The Spartans played fell behind by 36 points, 75-39, with 12:06 remaining after a jumper from Laura Cowley, but fought back with a 24-14 run to close out the game. Freshman Tiffany Whiting (Troutman, N.C./South Iredell) led the Spartans during the run with all seven of her points in the game, and Wyant added eight points and two of her three 3-pointers during that time.

"There were a lot of positives in the second half," George said. "I thought we played a little better defense in the second half. We played tougher. We're not going to quit. We'll keep playing hard and battling."

A lethal outside attack helped Belmont (9-8 overall, 3-1 A-Sun) take a 25-point lead, 51-26, into halftime, as the Bruins nailed 8-of-17 (47.1 percent) attempts from beyond-the-arc.

Holding a 17-10 lead, Belmont used a 17-2 run to build a 34-13 lead. During the run, the Bruins used four 3-pointers, two from Cowley and one each from Kristin Bunch and Rachel Swisher. The Spartans played even with the Bruins for much for much of the rest of the half, thanks to 12 first-half points from Johnson, but two 3-pointers in the final 40 seconds of the half, one coming from Cowley and one from Whitney Seals at the buzzer.

Cowley led the Bruins, scoring a game-high 19 points and adding three rebounds. Brooke Sunday added 14 points and four rebounds and Jessica Bobbitt added 13 points, five rebounds and five assists. Amber Rockwell posted 12 points and two steals.

The Bruins hit 11-of-23 shots from beyond-the-arc during the game, and the bench added 49 points to cruise to the win.

Upstate will wrap up its visit to Nashville on Monday night when it faces off against Lipscomb at 8 p.m. ET (7 p.m. CT).

Notes
The Spartans are 7-6 all-time on Jan. 19.

Upstate is 4-22 all-time against teams from Tennessee and 1-12 all-time in the Volunteer State.

Sophomore Courtney Hawkins crossed the 400-career-point mark at the 7:09 mark of the first half with her first free throw and point of the game.

Junior Ebony Johnson crossed the 400-career-point mark with a layup in the lane with 3:11 remaining in the first half, her 12th point of the game. She became the 27th player in school history to reach 300 career rebounds with her final rebound of the first half and she rejected a shot with 5:42 left in the game to become the 11th player in school history to reach 25 blocked shots in a career.

Sophomore Courtney Hawkins has reached double figures in 12 of 17 games this year. She also tied a season-high with four steals, which she has done three other times. She crossed the 75-career-steal mark in the game.

Sophomore Shanea Wyant crossed the 100-point mark this season with her ninth point of the game. She finished with 15.

Junior Ebony Johnson has connected on two 3-pointers in each of her last two games.

Sophomore Shanea Wyant has hit a 3-pointer in each of her last two games. She hit a career-high three trifectas in the game.

Sophomore Courtney Hawkins has hit a 3-pointer in each of the last four games and seven of the last eight.

Freshman Tiffany Whiting scored seven second-half points, the most she has scored since an 11-point game at Georgia Tech on Dec. 6.