Asheville, N.C. (Nov. 17) ? In the championship game of the Carolina First Classic, Davidson posted a 59-42 win over Georgia State on Saturday afternoon in the Justice Center on the campus of UNC Asheville.
The Wildcats from the Southern Conference went on a 12-0 run to erase a 30-29 Georgia State lead at 16:40 to11:31 and take control of the title game. State had erased a 28-20 halftime deficit with a 10-1 run to gain that lead.
Georgia State (1-2) shot just 23.5 percent for the game on 16-of-68 and hit just four-of-19 outside the three-point arc. Davidson shot 42.3 percent and held a 52-33 rebound advantage.
Junior guard Brittany Hollins led State with 13 points, six rebounds and two assists. Brittany Hudson added eight points and Monica Mann seven points. Davidson was led by Mercedes Robinson with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
“We got out of sync early in the game, missing a lot of easy shots,” Coach Henry noted. “We rushed our open shots and I'm proud of the effort to start the second half. We are a young team and we will just keep working to make ourselves better. We played a good, veteran team tonight and they made the plays they needed to.”
The game started with Davidson running off nine straight points as Georgia State went 0-for-8 from the field. With 13:55, State got a field goal from freshman Chandra Harris to make it 9-2.
The Panthers were down 13-4 and had hit just 2-of-14 when back Monica Mann and Traci Haltiwanger drained three-point baskets to close to 15-7 with 11:15. Davidson got the lead to 17-10 at 10:22 before State answered with six points to close to 17-16 at 4:55. With the score 19-18, Davidson outscored State 9-2 over the final two and a half minutes to take a 28-20 lead into the break. Georgia State shot just 24 percent in the first half on eight-of-25 attempts.
Brittany Hollins was voted to the Carolina First Classic All-Tournament team for her performance. The team included two players from champion Davidson and one each from UNC Asheville and Gardner-Webb.
Georgia State stays in North Carolina for a game Monday night vs. UNC in Chapel Hill.
