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| Ferrum earns berth in championship game |
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Friday, February 22, 2013
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- Post players Katy Kipps, Kylene Culler and Kesley Frazier each scored in double figures Saturday as Ferrum College women's basketball team earned a return trip to the USA South Athletic Conference tournament's championship game with a 79-70 victory over No. 4 seed North Carolina Wesleyan College in the semifinals
The Panthers (24-3), the conference's reigning champion and the tournament's No. 1 seed, will play Christopher Newport University, a 61-51 winner or Maryville (Tenn.) College in the semifinals, in Sunday's championship game.
The winner earns the USA South's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.
With the win, its third in a row, Ferrum establishes a new school record for single-season victories (24).
Ferrum will be playing in the tournament's championship game for the fifth time in Bryan Harvey's eight years as head coach (2006, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2013) and for the seventh time in program history (1992 and 1995).
Ferrum won the 1995 title in Fayetteville at nearby Methodist (N.C.) University by defeating the Monarchs in the championship game.
Should the Panthers play the Captains, it would be a rematch of last year's championship game played on Ferrum's campus and it would mark the fourth time that the two rivals would be facing one another in the title contest (2007, 2010, 2012 and 2013).
Kipps, a junior, and Culler, a sophomore, each netted 16 points to lead the Panthers, while Frazier, a senior, tallied 11.
Kipps (4 of 7), Culler (4 of 5) and Frazier (3 of 12) were a combined 11 of 24 from the field and and a combined 21 of 26 from the free-throw line: Kipps and Culler each was 8 of 10 and Frazier was 5 of 6.
Shea Smith (Franklin County) completed a quartet of double-figure scorers for the Panthers with 11 points.
Ferrum led 41-35 at halftime and outscored the Bishops 38-36 after intermission.
The Panthers' victory is their second this season over N.C. Wesleyan (13-14).
Ferrum won despite commiting 27 turnovers and failing to convert a 3-point field goal.
The Panthers made 44 percent (23 of 52) of their shots, 72 percent (33 of 46) of their free-throw attempts and they owned a 55-40 rebounding advantage.
Culler completed a double-double with a game-best 13 rebounds.
Shanice Goree paced the Bishops with a game-best 18 points.
Monet Edwards finished with 17 and Tiffany Bell tallied 12.
Five other players scored for N.C. Wesleyan.
Also scoring for Ferrum were Kayla Goins with nine points, Jacole Hairston with seven, Boreika Burwell (Franklin County) with five and Tesla Akers with four.
Ferrum's victory gives it a 26-22 record in this tournament since 1989, the year in which the Panthers made their inaugural appearance in the USA South's postseason event. |
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