Basketball (W)

November 17, 2021

Women's Basketball Downs Queens in League Opener

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Catawba stayed unbeaten in women’s basketball, collecting a 70-57 win against host Queens on Wednesday night at Curry Arena. The Catawba Indians got a double-double of 10 points and 17 rebounds from Janiya Downs in improving to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the SAC. The Royals fall to 1-1 and 0-1.

Catawba doubled up Queens 16-8 in the first quarter and led 35-20 at the break. The Lady Indians led by as many as 21 points late in the third quarter before Queens rallied back within single digits.

Queens scored at the buzzer of the third quarter to trail 56-37 and kept that momentum over the opening minutes of the fourth. Catawba failed to score for nearly two and half minutes as Queens pushed its run to 12-0 to trim the margin to 56-47 with 7:57 left.

Downs ended the run, but Queens kept the game in reach until the final minutes. With Catawba up 62-55, Lyrik Thorne hit a jumper and Taisha DeShazo deposited a three-pointer after a turnover to up the Lady Indian lead to 67-55 with 1:45 to go.

Catawba held a 54-44 edge on the boards and grabbed 22 offensive rebounds. That helped the Lady Indians out-score Queens 19-6 on second-chance points. Catawba also was +5 in turnover margin and scored 29 points off 24 Royal miscues.

Sara McIntosh led Catawba with 15 points and added eight rebounds, while DeShazo added 14 and seven boards. Thorne tossed in a dozen with Shemya Stanback grabbing 10 rebounds and handing out five assists. Downs added six assists.

Kalaya Hall led Queens with 25 points. Kiana Barkhoff had eight points and 10 rebounds. The Royas shot 34% in the loss and made only three three-pointer to nine for Catawba.

Catawba hosts Tusculum on Saturday at 2 p.m. in its home opener.

Box Score