49ers Fall To South Carolina In Overtime
Shannon McCallum led all scorers with a career-high 25 points. |
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Nov. 16, 2009
Highlights of the South Carolina game Coach Aston's postgame comments
Charlotte, NC - Shannon McCallum scored a career-high 25 points but the Charlotte 49ers women's basketball team (0-2) came up just short with a 70-66 overtime loss to SEC foe South Carolina (1-0) in Halton Arena.
"This was a hard fought game," Charlotte coach Karen Aston said. "I was pleased with our effort with played with more passion than we did in our first game of the season. We are not looking for moral victories."
McCallum connected on 11 field goals en route to her career-high 25 points. Aysha Jones added 16 points to the 49ers attack. Erin Floyd rounded out the 49ers double-figure scorers with 11 points.
Kelsey Bone and Valerie Nainima each tallied 22 points to lead South Carolina in scoring.
The 49ers and South Carolina each grabbed 42 rebounds. McCallum led the 49ers with nine rebounds. While, Floyd grabbed eight boards for Charlotte.
The 49ers led for the first ten minutes of the game before the Gamecocks took the lead at 12-10 on a three-pointer by Nainima at the 10:02. South Carolina's lead got as large as four before the 49ers went on a 17-2 run to regain the lead and control of the game in the first half.
During the scoring run, Jones registered seven points, all on free throws, while McCallum scored two jump shots to increase the Niners margin.
Charlotte pressed South Carolina for the majority of the first half and forced 14 Gamecock turnovers in the opening stanza. The 49ers scored 14 points of the turnovers and the Niners held the advantage for points in the point, 12-8.
Charlotte went into halftime with a 31-20 advantage over the visiting Gamecocks and were led by McCallum's team-leading 12 points and six rebounds.
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In the second half, Charlotte lost its lead at the 13:50 mark of the second half as USC opened the second period on a 17-5 run. For the rest of the game the two teams took turns with the lead by exchanging the upper hand eight times with five times the score was tied. The biggest lead for the remainder of the game was six by the Gamecocks at the 4:46 mark.
The Niners came back from a four-point USC lead with 43-seconds left in the game with two scores by McCallum to notch the game at 59-59. Charlotte's Ashley Spriggs had a chance to win the game for the Niners after a Gamecock turnover with 9.5 seconds left in the game, but the shot careened off the left side of the rim sending the game into overtime.
"I thought our team did a great job in getting the ball ahead to Ashley Spriggs to attempt the game-winning shot," Aston said.
In overtime, Charlotte never led as South Carolina opened the extra period with a three off the tip-off; however, the 49ers had a chance late to win the game, but McCallum's three-point attempt with nine seconds left bounced off the rim.
Charlotte returns to road when they battle Southern Conference foe Appalachian State on the road, Friday, November 20 at 7 pm.
