Taya Bolden of the Lady Camels puts up a shot in the first half.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/Paul Burgett)
BUIES CREEK — Gardner-Webb held on for a 59-56 women’s basketball win over Big South Conference leader Campbell on Saturday at Gore Arena.
Jhessyka Williams scored 20 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Bulldogs (14-13, 12-4), who won their seventh straight outing.
Luana Serranho led Campbell (19-6, 13-3) with 18 points, while Faith Price came off the bench to add 15, all in the second half.
GWU led 18-2 after the first quarter and 30-19 at halftime before Serranho’s jumper cut the gap to 44-38 on Serranho’s to end the third.
The Bulldogs led 58-47 after Emma Capps hit a baseline jumper with 1:39 to play. GWU missed five of its last six free throws to allow the Camels a chance to rally. Price’s deep three trimmed the gap to 58-54 and Svenia Nurenberg’s layup pulled CU within 59-56 with 15 seconds to play.
Lauren Bevis missed two free throws with 13.7 seconds left and the Camels had a chance to send the game into overtime, but Shy Tuelle’s 3 in the waning seconds hit the back iron and bounced off to end Campbell’s five-game win streak.
Alasia Smith added 15 points and 12 rebounds for GWU, while Bevins finished with 10 points, all in the opening half.
Campbell shot 39.6 percent (21-53) on the day, made 5-of-18 threes (.278) and 9-of-13 (.692) from the line. Gardner-Webb finished 23-of-56 (.411) from the floor, 5-of-20 (.250) beyond the arc, and 8-of-17 (.471) from the stripe, but held a 44-27 advantage on the boards, including 17 offensive rebounds.
Gardner-Webb hit five of its first six shots and led 18-2 at the end of the first quarter. The Camels opened the second on an 11-0 run to cut the gap to 18-13 before the Bulldogs ended the half on a 12-6 burst.
Williams (13) and Bevis (10) combined for 23 points in the opening half as the Bulldogs took a 30-19 lead at intermission. Williams made 6-of-7 shots – including all six attempts inside the arc – while playing all 20 minutes. Bevis hit 4-of-6 from the floor, 2-of-4 from 3-point distance, in the first half.
GWU shot 41 percent in the first half, while Campbell hit 30 percent of its shots before the break. Serranho scored 10 first-half points.
The Camels return to action Wednesday at 7 p.m. when they host Winthrop.
(Campbell media services provided the basis for this report)
Shy Tuelle gets a steal for the Campbell women on Saturday.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/Paul Burgett)
Luana Serranho drives for the Big South Conference leaders.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/Paul Burgett)
Faith Price hits a three to draw the CU women within 48-41.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/Paul Burgett)
Svenia Nurenburg drives for the last Campbell basket.
(Dunn Area Sports Photo/Paul Burgett)
