Davidson women advance to face Chattanooga

Davidson gutted out a quarterfinal victory today behind the strong bench play of Mercedes Robinson '09 (14 points) and Kelly Gassie '09 (9 points). Robinson, who had struggled in several games at the end of the regular season, provided the veteran 'Cats with enough energy to eke out the 71-62 victory over Wofford.

Although the Cats were hampered by foul trouble to all-conference selection Katie Hamilton '08, they stuck to their gameplan and kept attacking the Terriers at the heart of their defense. Danielle Hemerka '08 (11 points) was the key to the second half run as several of her layups began to fell and fouls racked up against Wofford. Davidson finished with 32 points in the paint.

The Davidson defense forced 28 turnovers and they converted that into 27 points. They held the Terriers to 21-45 shooting, including 5-11 from three-point land. Davidson grabbed 13 offensive rebounds and had 15 second-chance points to Wofford's 3.

Although Davidson started the first half with relatively slow production on the offensive end, they continued to attack Wofford's oversized frontcourt in search of simple baskets.

The Cats will advance to meet the Chattanooga Mocs tomorrow. The Mocs are led by SoCon player of the Year Alex Anderson who averages over 20 points per game.

Coach Watts knows that the Wildcats face a challenge tomorrow: "We know that we just have to slow Anderson down. You can't completely stop her. However, I'm proud of our effort today, and I hope that we can reproduce it tomorrow."