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  • Publications (documents)
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  • Text
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2018-02-23_Vol87_No01_05

The Western Carolinian SPORTS February 23, 2018 AAS Catamounts win over the Buccaneers Dillon Jeffrey Sports Editor On Feb. 1, Western Car- olina Universitys mens basketball team defeated Chattanooga 70-68 in the Ramsey Center. The win brought Western Carolina to a record of 10-13 (5-5 in Southern Conference play). The score was close throughout the game, with neither team able to pull away until the final seconds. Redshirt senior . guard Deriece Parks led the Catamounts in points, with 17, and minutes, with 35. Parks scored all of his points in the second half, including four three- _ pointers. Parks was one of four Catamounts to score double digit points on the night. Junior forward Marc Gosselin put forward an all-around game with 14 Dillon Jeffrey Sports Editor Four years have passed and the Winter Olympics have commanded the worlds attention again. From enthralling events such as ice-skating to extreme events like big air snowboarding and skiing, and to team sports such as hockey and curling, the Winter Olympics holds something for everyone. This year the games are being held in Py- eongChang, South Korea. In addition to the beauty and culture of the country, this years games also hold important political signifi- cance, During the opening ceremony, South Koreans walked side-by-side with North Koreans under a sin- gle flag. The flag bore the countries together as one, without the strict, militant border separating them. PyeongChang sits less than 100 miles from this border. This is not the first time North and South Korean athletes have walked under the same flag at the Olym- pics, but due to the political unrest between North Ko- rea and the United States, this unifying symbol comes as a much-needed sign of peace. Progress in the Olympics is marked by the coveted medal count, in which a tally of gold, silver, bronze and total medals each coun- Catamounts face difficult loss at Dillon Jeffrey Sports Editor On Feb. 1, Western Carolina Universitys womens basketball team lost a difficult home game to Chattanooga University, 58-41. Chat- tanooga improved to 14-8 (5-3 in Southern Conference play) while Western Carolina fell to 4-19 and remained | winless in 8 attempts in conference play. The Catamounts put on a defensive display by holding Chattanooga under 60 points and forcing 10 turnovers. Western Carolina also dominated the boards, snagging 44 rebounds to Chattanoogas 30. The Catamounts shut down Chattanoogas second- chance points, grabbing 24 defensive rebounds while holding Chatta- nooga to only 6 offensive rebounds. Unfortunately, this defensive effort was points, six rebounds, and four steals. Gosselins defensive impact was es- pecially helpful in a game where every possession mattered, and his hustle consistently riled up the 1,100 fans in attendance. The hero of the night was junior forward Mike Amius. Amius picked up three fouls early on, there- fore Head Coach Larry Hunter was forced to put him on the bench for most of the second half. Even with this handicap, Amius scored 12 points, and none more crucial than the final two. : With 16 seconds left in the game, Amius was fouled and sent to the free throw line for two shots. The score was tied 68-68. _ Amius converted the first shot to give the Cata- mounts the lead, then the second to seal the victory. Chattanooga stole the ball try has earned is kept. At the writing of this article, the United States sits in fifth place with four total med- als. Norways holds the most medals, with nine, but Ger- many holds the most gold medals, with four. Hope for the United States is still high, as the team regularly brings the most athletes to the games. The first athlete to win a gold medal for the United States in this years games was Redmond Gerard. Gerard is just 17 years old, and he earned his medal in mens snowboard slopestyle. This is the big air event for snowboarding, and Gerard landed a trick that few people even know about, much less can pull off. The trick is called a backside triple cork 1440 and took Gerard from 11 place to first. The trick involves three backflips and four complete rotations, all while flying down a steep hill. A significant silver medalist for Team USA was luger Chris Mazdzer. Mazdzer became the first American to medal in the event in.Olympic history. At 29 years old, Mazdzer relied on his extensive ex- perience to bring home a medal in an event that not many find interesting. He considers this to not only be a huge win for him, but a huge win for his sport in America. Team figure skating has not enough, as the Cata- mounts struggled on the offensive side of the ball. As a team, Western Carolina shot only 27 percent from the floor and 17 percent from be- hind the three-point line. The scoring trouble began early for the Cata- mounts as they went 0-5 for three-pointers in the first half. The inside game did not have much better luck, producing only 14 points by half- time. While the Catamounts were not shooting par- ticularly well, neither was Chattanooga in the first half. Going only 10- 26, Chattanooga put up 27 points to lead by 13 at the half. Coming out of the half, Western Carolina found some momentum through redshirt sopho- more, Judith Martin Ruiz. Ruiz scored 7 of her team-high 12 points in a 9-0 Catamount run back, but the Catamount defense kept them from scoring before the clock wound down. The Catamounts shot a solid 48 percent from the field, mostly inside. The team combined for 28 points in the paint: 10 more than Chattanooga. Western Carolinas inside game was strong, but they really won the game with their free-throw shooting. The Buccaneers completed just 68 percent from the line, while the Catamounts mustered an impressive 81 percent. The win gave the Cata- mounts a season sweep over the Buccaneers, hav- ing travelled to Chattanoo- ga and beaten the Bucca- neers earlier in the season. The win also marked a conference victory that kept the Catamounts in the middle of the pack in the Southern Conference. also brought a medal to the United States, winning bronze in one of the first events in the games. Team member Mirai Nagasu also made history in her run, becoming the first woman to ever land a triple axel in Olympic competition. The triple axel is impres- sive because it is three and a half rotations in the air, tak- ing off from one razor-thin blade and landing on the other. All of this takes place seamlessly in the midst of a performance that involves other challenging tricks as well as dance-like compo- sure and grace. Nagasus historic feat secured the medal for Team USA. With several medals al- ready won, fans are looking ahead hopefully for more to come. Some focal points of these hopes are on alpine skiing and womens hockey. In alpine skiing, the superstars name is Lindsey Vonn. Vonn won a gold and bronze medal in the 2010 Olympics, but was sidelined with a tragic ACL tear for the 2014 games. Her comeback from this horrific injury is nearly complete, as she won the last World Cup race. This victory marked her 80 career World Cup win, a world record. Her legacy outside of the Olympics already cemented, Vonn looks ready to return to center stage and take home another gold medal. This year, the National in the third quarter. Setting the tempo on offense, the new recruit showed flashes of the promise the program saw in her this offseason. Unfortunately, Chat- tanooga matched Ruiz intensity and went on an 8-0 run to close out the quarter, and the game. Western Carolina had fallen behind too far to reclaim the lead. Another star for the Catamounts was Sherae Bonner, who put up her fifth double-double of the season with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Added to this impressive stat, Bonner continues to climb the record books at Western Carolina for blocks. With an- other block in this game, Bonner reaches 132 in total. This is only 11 away from tying West- ern Carolinas all-time record of 143, posted by Shauna Terry. An unfortunate home On Feb. 3, Western Carolina defeated Samford University 88-71 to go above .500 in conference play. This was a landmark win for Western Carolina and Head Coach Larry Hunter, as it was Hunters win number 700. Hunter has coached Western Carolinas mens team for 13 seasons. He accrued some of his wins as the coach of Marietta College in Ohio before taking over the position in Cullowhee. Although undervalued because he is yet to reach the big stage of the NCAA tournament, Hunter has coached the Catamounts to the South- ern Conference Semifinals in five of the last eight seasons. Through Hunters influ- ence, the program has brought in players from as nearby as Cherokee to as far away as Turkey. Hockey League forbade its players from participating in the Olympics. February . is a key month in the sea- son, and injuries and delays were too big of a factor. For this reason, eyes are turning to womens hockey. The womens hockey team won silver in the 2014 | games after a dramatic 3-2 overtime loss to their rival, Canada. This year, the team is looking only for the gold. The Winter Olympics displays the hopes and de- spairs of dozens of nations and hundreds of athletes over a period of just over two weeks. Through it all, He chooses a difficult regular season schedule intentionally, so the team is prepared for adversity. This explains their success in the conference tourna- ment, in spite of tradition- ally posting an average regular season record. Hunter achieved this fateful victory with an- other huge game for Mike Amius. By keeping out of early foul trouble, Amius was allowed to play more minutes. More minutes translated to more points for Amius, who scored a team-high 28 in the win. Added to his points, Amius grabbed 14 re- bounds, 10 of them on the defensive end of the court. Amius was not the only star on the night: senior guard Devin Peterson recorded a career-high 25 points. Peterson did not start the game but when he came off the bench scor- Logo for the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics held in South Korea. America fights for bragging @ Po rights as it attempts to top the world with that univer- sal symbol: medals. stretch continued for the Catamounts on Feb. 3 as second-place East Ten- nessee State University travelled to Cullowhee. The Buccaneers com- manded the game from the start, winning with a total score of 76-46. The Buccaneers scored first and never trailed in the game. In one of the hottest games of their season, the Buccaneers - shot 50 percent in the first half, taking a lead of 36-22. Western Carolina could not get out of their previous games shooting rut; firing at 34 percent from the field, and only 17 percent from three- pointers. Buccaneer Tiana Tart- er led all scorers with 23 points, the majority of which came from behind the three-point arch. Tarter also played 39 minutes, coming out of the game only once. Leading the Cata- mounts was sophomore forward Tess Harris with 11 points off the bench. After a two point perfor- mance against Chatta- nooga, Harris found her form again and put ina useful shift of 23 min- utes. A consistent leader in this tumultuous season has been senior forward. Brown nearly reached a double-double in this game, putting up 9 points and 9 rebounds. Averaging over 7 points per game, Brown has experienced her best year at Western Carolina. With eight players taller than 510, the Buccaneers started four forwards and controlled the boards with 43 re- bounds. Western Caro- lina, a team who prides itself in winning the rebound battle, adjusted defensively and forced 12 Buccaneer turnovers. Unfortunately, the Catamounts themselves turned the ball over 16 ing, Coach Hunter stayed with the hot hand and kept him in the game. Western Carolina shot over 50 percent from the floor in the win, and put forth another excellent night from the foul line, shooting upwards of 80 percent. Coupling with their offensive production, the Catamounts owned the boards, smothering Sam- ford in the rebound battle 51-25. \ The Catamounts fired on all cylinders to earn Coach Hunter his 700 win at home in the Ramsey Center. The team also won back-to-back conference games during an important stretch as March looms . nearer. With less than a month, and a short month at that, before the Southern Conference tournament, the Catamounts are riding high and looking forward to a long playoff run. exels.com Stock Four of the five current U.S. gold medals come from snowboarding events. times. It was lack of offense, again, that led to the Catamount defeat. Fac- ing the number two and three teams in the con- ference was an unfortu- nate time for shooting percentage to go cold and the turnover count to rise. ey Under head coach Stephanie McCormick, the Catamounts like to get the ball inside; this approach benefits Bonners numbers, just as Bonners skill level benefits the approach. When the inside game is not dominant, however, this season the Cata- mounts have come up just short of establishing a second viable plan of attack. While defensively stout and well-disci- plined, the Catamounts need sparks on the offen- sive to truly propel the team into a threat in the Southern Conference.

The Western Carolinian is Western Carolina University's student-run newspaper. The paper was published as the Cullowhee Yodel from 1924 to 1931 before changing its name to The Western Carolinian in 1933.

• Creator
  • Western Carolina University
• Format
  • Publications (documents)
  • Text
• Type
  • Text
• Date
  • Date original: 2018-02-23
• Extent
  • Dimension: 22.5" x 11.25"
  • Pages: 12
• Subject - Topic
  • College student newspapers and periodicals
  • Cullowhee (N.C.) -- Newspapers
  • Universities and colleges -- North Carolina -- Cullowhee -- Newspapers
  • Western Carolina University -- Periodicals
• Location
  • Jackson County (N.C.)
  • Cullowhee (N.C.)
• Source institution
  • Western Carolina University
• Source Collection
  • WCU Students Newspapers Collection
• Identifier
  • HL_WesternCarolinian_2018-02-23_Vol87_No01
• Repository
  • Western Carolina University Hunter Library