NORTH MIAMI, Fla. (January 4, 2020) – The Webber International University women's basketball team got the New Year started off right, earning a huge 74-56 win over one of the two teams that entered the day unbeaten in Sun Conference play, Johnson & Wales University.
It was the start of 13 consecutive Sun Conference games for the Warriors to finish off their 2019-20 campaign as Webber improved to .500 overall on the season at 8-8 and went to 2-4 in TSC play. It was also the first conference win for the Warriors since winning their league opener back on November 16 over Keiser University. Johnson & Wales, meanwhile, which was coming off a 16-point win over No. 25 Lawrence Tech and a three-point loss vs. No. 9 Taylor University last week, fell to 10-3 overall and 4-1 in the conference.
After Webber took a 30-24 lead at halftime, the first big momentum swing of the game came as the Warriors opened the second half on a 12-2 run, finalized by a 3-pointer by
Dysheka Price, to lead by 16 at 42-26 five minutes into the period.
Then, after JWU cut the deficit back down to 10 twice over the final three minutes of the third quarter, a layup by
Paris Copeland assisted on by
Breyonna Reed with only 20 seconds left sent the Warriors into the final period up by 12 at 51-39.
In all, it was a 21-point third quarter for Webber on 47.1 percent shooting from the field, 66.7 shooting from three, perfect 3-for-3 shooting from the free throw line and six JWU turnovers.
However, JWU kicked off the fourth quarter on a mission and showed the resilience of a team undefeated in conference play by scoring each of the first nine points of the period to get back to within three at 51-48 with 6:46 left to play.
Fortunately, the Warriors regrouped, and starting with two free throws by
Emmarrie Carmen, finished the contest off on a 23-8 run over the final 6:10 of the game to win it by 18.
RayGene Garner accounted for 10 points during Webber's game-clinching run and finished with 12 points overall on 50 percent (4-8) shooting from the field.
Garner first put the Warriors up seven at 55-48 on a baseline jumper on the inbounds pass by Copeland with 5:12 left; and then she made it a 10-point game at 61-51 with an and-one, again assisted by Copeland, with 4:11 left.
Garner's 3-pointer with 3:36 on the clock then made it an 11-point margin at 64-53 before she added two free throws with just under two minutes left to make it a 69-55 Warrior advantage.
Webber finished the fourth quarter with 23 points and a very strong 54.5 shooting percentage (6-11) while also going 9-of-11 (81.8 percent) from the free throw line during the period.
Webber's leading scorer in this one was Copeland with 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting overall. She also added five rebounds and a game-high five assists.
Carmen finished with 13 points also on 50 percent shooting (5-10) from the field while adding six rebounds and three steals; and
LeAndra Franklin had a great all-around game with 10 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals.
Taniya Patrick had six points and 10 rebounds and
Eletra Graham had six points on two 3-pointers as in all, five different Warriors hit at least one shot from long range for a collective shooting effort of 40 percent from three.
The Webber defense, meanwhile, also did its job, holding JWU to only 27.3 percent from the field and only 21.1 percent from three.
Next up, Webber will continue its long season-ending stretch of TSC games with the latest installment of the Crooked Lake rivalry. The Warriors and the Royals of Warner University will do battle for the first time this season at 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 11, inside the Turner Athletic Center in Lake Wales, Florida.
