Thompson, Gassie leave it all on the parquet in Wofford

They say that true commitment is built by always playing your hardest, even when no one is watching. On Friday night, the men's basketball team fought hard to a secure a very important Bracketbusters victory in front of a national television audience. On Saturday afternoon, the women's basketball team worked even harder to overcome a double digit deficit to win yet another SoCon battle on the road and pick up a game on Georgia Southern for the all-important third seed in the conference tournament. But only their families, three Davidson students, and a handful of Wofford fans were there to see it.

Davidson overcame a 20% shooting first half and a 10-point halftime deficit to beat Wofford 84-76 in overtime. Several Wildcats put up gaudy stats...Julia Paquette went 8-16 for 23 points, Mercedes Robinson picked up yet ANOTHER double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds and Alex Thompson recorded 18 points, 9 boards and a career-high 6 steals.

But this win wasn't about the stats. It wasn't even about beating a high-profile SoCon opponent on the road (which Wofford certainly isn't). This game was about Davidson continually coming out on top in situations when they should have been defeated. This was about overcoming all of that rationality in your gut that tells you that your doubt in the outcome is well based. The Wildcats kept hoping...on every steal, every jump shot and every rebound, and ultimately came out on top.

With four Wildcat players ultimately fouling out throughout the contest, Davidson coach Annette Watts had to go the end of her bench to find players to keep battling back as time was extended. But ultimately, she needed to look no further than her gutsy backcourt of Kelly Gassie and Alex Thompson.

Davidson went to a full-court press in the second half to keep Wofford off-balance, and the Cats' came up with several steals, despite allowing some easy Terrier shots. At one point, Wofford scored on four straight possessions late in the game. At another point, they drew fouls on Davidson for six or seven consecutive possessions. The Wildcats were nearly down and out at the end of regulation as Wofford was at the line with a three-point lead and just 40 seconds remaining. After the Terriers missed the free throw and got their own rebound. Things were even hairier. But Davidson forced a turnover, Paquette cut the lead to one. Wofford only got one point from the line on their next possession and Mercedes Robinson rebounded her own miss in traffic and put-back the game-tying basket with 3 seconds left in regulation.

After two more Wildcats fouled out in overtime, Thompson and Gassie took over on both ends of the floor. On one end Thompson is getting a rebound, then she sets up Julia Paquette for a basket. Then Gassie gets a huge steal and a fast break, misses her layup, gets a defensive rebound after another foul on Davidson, rebounds a miss by Kelsey Cary on the other end and gets the ball right back to her. After yet another Gassie defensive rebound, Thompson came open at the top of the key and hit the dagger three-pointer to put Wofford down for good. Thompson iced the game with her 9th and 10th straight free throws. Her 10-10 mark from the line ties a Davidson record for 100% free throw shooting with a minimum of 10 attempts.

The two Wildcat guards were breathing hard by the end, but it was their determination and savvy that pulled the rest of the team through when most of their veteran teammates could only watch and cheer.

This game could very well go down as one of the most exhilirating and hard-fought Davidson Wildcat games this year that no one ever saw. There are no SportsCenter highlights or parties on campus to welcome the team home. In fact, they are staying down in Spartanburg in prep for their road game at Furman on Monday. They will try to keep going about their business and working, step by step, towards a strong showing in the SoCon tournament.

But I don't have to look ahead quite yet. I get to reflect that today's game was one of the most special and gutsy performances that I have seen in a very long time.

Davidson faces off against two very different Catamounts

Today will be a full day of basketball up here in Davidson, N.C. I will not be available to host a live blog or post an original story directly after either game, but I will try to get some thoughts online by Sunday.

Annette Watts' women's team will kick off the action at 2 p.m. against Western Carolina. Although the Catamounts come into this matchup with a seemingly harmless 8-5, 0-1 record, they continue to be every bit the team that fought Chattanooga to the bitter end in last year's conference title game. This year, Western Carolina has won at Clemson, at Louisville, at Oregon State and Hawaii. Their losses have come at the hands of Minnesota, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Chattanooga, and, most recently, UNC Wilmington. The Davidson men's team might know a little something about how a record doesn't really reflect the true quality of a basketball squad.

The Catamounts have been led by a high-scoring trio of upperclassmen: Monique Dawson, Brooke Johnson, and Ashley Pellom. All three players have averaged in double figures this season, while the 6-4 Johnson has averaged 6.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks a game. Unfortunately for the Catamounts, however, Johnson was seriously injured in last week's loss to Chattanooga. Reports are that she won't be returning this season.

The Wildcats will be bolstered by the return of Katie Hamilton who saw limited minutes in her first game back against College of Charleston last week. Although she is still not at full speed, Davidson hopes that Hamilton can give them another scoring threat on the perimeter to take the defense's attention away from Alex Thompson and Honna Housley.

The most important matchup in this game will be Mercedes Robinson and Julia Paquette against forward Kendra Eaton. Davidson completely floundered against this same group of forwards last year, and they were unable to stop the easy layups in the paint. The top six scorers for the Catamounts are all upperclassmen which means that they will be highly disciplined and difficult to rattle. The Wildcats will need to shoot a high percentage from the field and limit turnovers in order to have a chance to pull out the victory. If they can take advantage of Johnson's absence and learn to play well in the matinee timeslot, the Wildcats could be rewarded with a signature conference victory.

In the nightcap, the Davidson men's team will take on a similarly clad, yet totally different Western Carolina basketball team. While the female Catamounts have enjoyed immense success over the past few years, the men have struggled mightily in the Southern Conference and look to be going down that road again after stud sophomore Nick Aldridge was asked to leave the team.

The Catamounts have very little identity as a basketball squad right now, and that showed as they dropped an embarrassing conference loss to lowly 2-11 Furman on Thursday night. Conversely, the Wildcats are coming off a commanding victory over conference leader Georgia Southern where they had three players score in double figures, and led by a score of 21-3 at one point.

Things to watch for:

-Katie Hamilton might be back, but she won't be at full speed. Watts will be walking the fine line of giving Hamilton valuable playing time versus keeping her fifth-year star healthy. In the past, this team has fallen into bad habits of letting Hamilton do all the scoring for them. If they do not integrate her back into the offense effectively and efficiently, they might not be as successful as hoped for in conference play.

-In Davidson's last home game against High Point, star forward Julia Paquette went 2-12 from the field, missing open layups left and right. She cannot afford to lose her calm in the next two home games against WCU and Chattanooga.

-Although Will Archambault did hit a three-pointer in Davidson's blowout victory over Georgia Southern, he played the game at a slower pace than normal. I wondered if the ankle injury that he sustained at N.C. State had anything to do with it. If Paulhus-Gosselin replicates his effort from Thursday and stays out of foul trouble, Archambault might be given plenty of time to think about his ankle and his intensity.

-Although Kyle Hines and his UNC-G Spartans still lurk on the horizon, the Southern Conference does not offer much in terms of overpowering frontcourts. GSU's Louis Graham was supposed to be an all-conference player, but he could not stop Thomas Sander in the ways that the ACC teams could. Andrew Lovedale almost seemed surprised that he was able to elevate and get his hands on so many tipped balls around the basket. Ultimately, the effectiveness and consistency of Davidson's frontcourt will determine just how successful this 08 campaign will be.