SPORTS
‘Cats Honor Senior Ally Welling, Drop Game vs. VCU
Senior Ally Welling received a bouquet of flowers at the end of the game.
DAVIDSON, N.C. — Despite leading for over 34 minutes and holding VCU to 31.7 percent shooting, Davidson fell in the closing seconds, 55-51, on Senior Day in Atlantic 10 women’s basketball inside John M. Belk Arena.
Katie Turner hit this long 3 to keep the ‘Cats in the game.
Tied at 51-all with 29 seconds remaining, the Rams ran the clock down until Taya Robinson drove into the lane and hit a layup while drawing a foul with 5.6 seconds left. She then hit the free throw to finish the three-point play to make it 54-51.
The Wildcats advanced the ball out of a timeout, but Katie Turner’s three-point attempt from the corner fell short with two seconds left. VCU then hit one more free throw to close out the four-point win.
Sarah Konstans had hit a clutch jumper in the lane with 29 ticks left to tie the game up at 51-all after the Rams had converted a three-point play with 1:29 on the clock to erase the ‘Cats’ 49-48 lead.
Davidson closes out the regular season with a 15-14 overall mark and went 8-8 in league play. VCU finished second in the conference at 13-3 and improved to 18-11 overall.
Suzi Rose-Deegan led all players in points and rebounds by scoring 17 and hauling in seven boards. Turner closed with 13 points, nine of them from behind the arc.
It was Ally Welling’s day at Belk Arena on Saturday.
Senior Ally Welling, who was honored prior to the game for Senior Day, scored eight points and had four rebounds to go with a block.
Three Rams scored in double figures, led by Robinson’s 16 points, followed by Madison Hattix-Covington and Danielle Hammond with 11 points each. VCU shot just 19-for-60 from the floor, but was 6-of-13 in the final quarter when it outscored Davidson 18-13.
Davidson had leads of 16-9 and 25-17 through the end of the first and second quarters, and was leading 49-43 with 4:58 to go in the fourth quarter before its lead was erased late in the game.
The ‘Cats finished the game shooting 35 percent (21-of-60) and went 5-for-11 on threes, while hauling in 42 rebounds.
Davidson will host the first round of the A-10 Championship Tuesday, March 3 at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES: This was eighth meeting all-time between both team’s women’s basketball programs …. The Wildcats fell to 2-6 in the series … Davidson had its 14th game with over 40 rebounds … the ‘Cats fell to 7-5 at home and fell to 14-2 when holding a lead with five minutes remaining in the game … prior to the game, Turner was honored with a 1,000-point ball after becoming the 21st player in program history to hit the milestone, Feb. 19.
Check out our News of Davidson photo album from the game, and a second album of pre and post-game senior day activities.