SPORTS

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo.  — Junior point guard Katie Turner had her second straight 20-point outing and Davidson held off a late second-half rally from UC Irvine to score a 78-72 win in the first of two women’s basketball Preseason WNIT consolation games at the University of Missouri-Kansas City’s Swinney Center.

Turner dropped in an even 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting and 4-for-7 from three-land. She was clutch down the stretch, scoring 10 points in the fourth quarter, seven of which came in the last 2:50 as Davidson (2-1) was clinging to a one-point lead.

UC Irvine got within 68-67 with under three minutes to go before Turner swished home a corner three-ball. Later, the junior helped ice the game by canning all four of her free throws in the last 37 seconds, including the final two with 16.4 seconds left.

Senior Ally Welling was also big down the stretch and finished with a stat line of 15 points, nine rebounds, a steal and block.

Giving the Wildcats a third double-digit scorer was Chloe Welch with 10 points. Cassidy Gould had nine points, while Sarah Donovan (nine rebounds) and Suzi-Rose Deegan each chipped in eight points.

The Anteaters (1-2) got back in the game with an 18-7 run in the third quarter and then closed to within one (68-67) in the fourth quarter on a 7-0 run halfway through.

A trio of UCI players scored in double digits led by Lauren Saiki with 18 points. Alexus Seaton scored 17 and off the bench, Sophia Locandro had 14 points to go with six rebounds.

The Wildcats again shot well from the floor, hitting 46.4 percent of their shots (26-of-56) and drilled 8-of-18 from behind arc. They finished 18-for-26 at the charity stripe, including 8-of-10 in the fourth quarter.

Davidson used a combined shooting of 18-for-32, including 6-of-10 from behind the arc, in the first two quarters to grab a 12-point lead at the break (46-34). The Wildcats had a 17-9 lead in the first quarter before it ended at 17-14.

Then in the second quarter, eight different players scored in helping push the lead out to as many as 17 (42-25). The ‘Cats had a 14-5 run to open the quarter with Turner and Deegan combining for eight points, while Welling chipped in six total points for the quarter.

GAME NOTES: This was the first meeting all-time between the teams …. Davidson moved to 2-4 all-time in the Preseason WNIT … Turner’s 20-point outing was the seventh of her career … she has 43 career double-figure scoring games … through first three games, Turner has nailed 11-of-17 three-pointers and gone 13-for-14 at the charity stripe … the Wildcats scored a season-high 29 points in the second quarter … Davidson had a 40-33 advantage on the glass, its second 40-rebound effort of the season.