The Charlotte 49ers women’s basketball team emphatically paved their way to the second round of the Women’s NIT with a 74-60 win over the Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs Thursday night in Halton Arena. Charlotte began the game on a 19-4 run and led 45-30 at the half on the way to their 13th straight home win.
The Niners dominated every statistical category Thursday night, winning the rebounding battle 54-39, outscoring the Bulldogs in the paint 34-26 and winning the fast-break battle 18-4. Gardner-Webb’s bench outscored Charlotte 24-8.
Kendria Holmes led the way for the Niners, scoring 22 points, 14 in the first half alone, and pulled down eight rebounds. Holmes scored six of Charlotte’s first 10 points and sparked the opening run.
“You know it was really good and I want to couch that with that fact that I thought she carried over her tournament play,” Niner Head Coach Karen Aston said when asked about Holmes’ play. “She looked much more comfortable in the A-10 Tournament and has carried that over into practice this week. She just looks more comfortable running our team now.”
The Niners also had four other players reach double-figure scoring. Erin Floyd scored 10 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Ashley Spriggs scored 12 and had seven boards, and both Shannon McCallum and Aysha Jones netted 11 points for the Niners, who will take on North Carolina A&T Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Halton Arena.
“That’s what I’m most comfortable with is when we share the basketball. You know we had 14 assists.” Aston said. “I’m much more comfortable with that than I am with one person taking all the shots. We just haven’t had that offensive balance throughout the year but I think that goes back to Kendria being comfortable running our offense.”
Charlotte built it’s lead to as many as 21 in the second half at the 12:17 mark, 58-37 and Gardner-Webb never got closer than 12 the rest of the way. The Niners shot 48 percent from the floor on the night on the way to their 18th win of the season and held Gardner-Webb to just 28 percent shooting.
The Bulldogs had three players account for most of their scoring. Dominique Hudson scored 16 points, twin sister Monique scored 12, and Courtney Epps led the Bulldogs with 17 points and eight rebounds.
“I was happy to find out after the game that we would get another home game,” Aston said. “Obviously it will be another tough opponent but to have the home crowd and be back in Halton one more time is a thrill for us.”
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