Sophia Aleksandravicius

Davidson College Sports Information
CHARLESTON, S.C. – College of Charleston used an 11-0 run in the last two minutes to offset a big night from Sophia Aleksandravicius as Davidson fell 61-52 on the road at the Carolina First Arena in Southern Conference women’s basketball action on Monday evening.

Aleksandravicius tallied her fourth double-double of the year with game highs of 26 points and 14 rebounds. She hit 12-of-21 shots and added a pair of free throws. The sophomore also dished out four assists, blocked three shots and pocketed three steals, but she was the lone Cat to reach double digits, with Kristen Johnsen next at eight points.

The Cats (11-12, 6-8 SoCon) hurt themselves in the last two minutes when they turned the ball over three straight possessions after taking a 52-50 lead.

Barbara Sitton drained a jumper from the right elbow with 2:10 left to give the Wildcats the two-point lead, but after a Cougar timeout, Janae Smith (11 points) spotted up behind the arc and hit a three-ball to give Charleston back the lead at 53-52.

With three straight turnovers, Davidson was then forced to foul and Tonia Gerty sealed the win for the Cougars (7-17, 4-11 SoCon) by hitting four straight free throws and then adding a breakaway layup off a steal for six of the final eight Charleston points.

Gerty led Charleston with 19 points, hitting 6-of-11 shots, including all three of her triples. College of Charleston went 9-of-16 overall from behind the arc after entering the night shooting just 24.3 percent on the season behind the three line.

Aleksandravicius helped bring the Wildcats back from a 36-31 halftime deficit by scoring 12 of Davidson’s first 17 points to start the half, with her last two-pointer making the score 49-48 with under seven minutes to play. From the 6:15 mark in the first half until her last bucket, the forward had scored 22 of the Cats’ 27 points in that span.

Both teams came out of the gates fast with College of Charleston holding an 18-17 lead with just under nine minutes gone in half. The Cougars and the Wildcats both shot over 50 percent during the stretch, with the Cats canning 57.1 percent (8-14) and using their height to score inside. They got 20 first-points in the paint and finished the game with 32.

Aleksandravicius did most of her damage inside, scoring 14 first-half points and keeping the Wildcats close by scoring their final 10 of the period.

Charleston used its hot outside shooting in the half to grab the five-point halftime edge, hitting 7-of-10 shots from downtown with five different players nailing at least one trey.

AT FURMAN WEDNESDAY

Davidson continues its four-game road trip, its longest of the season, at Furman on Wednesday with tip-off set for 7 p.m.

GAME NOTES: Davidson still leads the all-time series, 22-9, vs. the Cougars … Aleksandravicius’ 20-point-plus outing was the 10th of her career and sixth this year; she has 15 career double-doubles … The Cats are in the midst of a stretch where they play seven games in 15 days, with this being game No. 4 … the Wildcats are also in the midst of play eight of 10 games on the road from Jan. 22 to Feb. 14 … Davidson dished out 18 assists with four players dishing out at least three … Laura Murray led the team with five assists, the fifth time she’s dished out five in a game this season.

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