Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Charlotte
49ers Down Thundering Herd, 87-77
2/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Final Stats
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Charlotte's women's basketball team got 65 points from the trio of Lefty Webster (24), Alexis Alexander (22) and Kira Gordon (19) to power the 49ers to an 87-77 win over visiting Marshall Thursday evening at Halton Arena.
The group combined to shoot 26-for-42 (61.9 percent) from the field, while the rest of the team went 6-for-22 (27.2 percent).
The 49ers improved to 15-9 overall and 8-5 in Conference USA with the victory, while the Thundering Herd dropped to 16-8 and 6-7 in the league.
Gordon had a team-high eight rebounds and five assists.
Marshall was led by Leah Scott's 19 points. Kiana Evans posted a career-high 17 points (16 in the first half) on 4-for-5 3-point shooting. Talequia Hamilton narrowly missed a double-double (13 points, nine rebounds) Shayna Gore added 10. Norrisha Victrum shook off a 2-for-10 shooting day to post six assists and just one turnover.
Thanks largely to Evans's contribution, Marshall held a 33-8 edge in bench points.
"I thought we competed," said Marshall coach Matt Daniel. "We have to be better defensively. However, we still had a shot to win in the end and gave up a couple of huge offensive rebounds. Tough lessons to learn in a loss, but we continue to learn."
The two teams came into the game leading Conference USA in scoring (Charlotte's 75.2 and Marshall's 73.0 per game) and showed it as they combined for 90 first half points (46-44 Marshall).
Charlotte jumped back in front in the third quarter, but Marshall narrowed the margin to two (61-59) on an Evans free throw with 44 seconds left in the third quarter.
However, Charlotte responded with an 8-0 run, capped by a Webster 3-pointer (69-59) with 7:22 left to take control of the game.
Marshall didn't go quietly, though, and scored seven straight points to close the margin back to two (77-75) on a Scott layup with 2:47 left.
From that point, Charlotte closed out the contest by hitting all eight of its free throws down the stretch after going 9-for-17 (52.9 percent) in the previous 37 minutes of action.
Charlotte did a good job of ramping up the defensive intensity in the second half, forcing 11 Thundering Herd turnovers after just three Marshall miscues in the game's first 20 minutes.
The loss was Marshall's first (13-1) of the season when leading at the half.
Marshall will be back in action Saturday at Old Dominion at 4 p.m. The Lady Monarchs dropped to 11-14 overall and 7-6 in the league after falling 85-74 to Western Kentucky (20-4, 11-2) in overtime Thursday evening.
