Sophia Aleksandravicius

Davidson College Sports Information
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Sophia Aleksandravicius scored 23 points and senior Ashley Lax hit 11 of her 18 points in the second half to lift Davidson over College of Charleston, 69-53, in the first round of the Southern Conference women’s basketball tournament Thursday at McKenzie Arena.

The win sends the Wildcats into the second round, where they will face No. 1-seeded Appalachian State on Friday morning. That game begins about 30 minutes after the conclusion of the day’s first game, a 9 a.m. contest between No. 2-seeded Samford vs. No. 10-seeded Western Carolina.

Aleksandravicius hit 8-of-12 shots and swished home all seven of her free throws for her ninth 20-point outing of the season. She added nine boards, four blocks and three steals in the winning effort.

“I thought Sophia did a tremendous job carrying us in the first half and keeping us in the game,” said head coach Michele Savage, who earned her first career tournament win as a head coach.

The sophomore did most of her damage in the first half when she went off for 17 points in helping Davidson erase a 28-23 deficit with 4:29 remaining in the period. She would score the Wildcats’ final eight points of the half to give them a 31-30 halftime lead they would not relinquish.

Her eight points came in a variety of ways, a jumper at the top of the key, a fastbreak layup, then a post-up move and finally a pair of free throws to close the half.

Lax stepped in for Aleksandravicius in the second half, hitting three of her game-high four three-pointers in the half and halting any Cougar comeback. The senior canned 6-of-12 shots and a pair of free throws for her 18 points, moving her just nine points away from becoming the 14th Wildcat to clip the 1,000-point barrier in a career.

“We had everyone step up,” said Aleksandravicius. “We took open shots, drove more and we just all played with a bigger intensity in the second half.”

Davidson outscored College of Charleston 38-23 in the second half and shot 53.8 percent on its way to a 51 percent shooting clip for the game. It’s the second game in a row the Wildcats have shot better than 50 percent.

Rounding out the double-figure scorers for Davidson was Kristen Johnsen with 11 points as the junior came up big in the second half. She scored all 11 in the second half, including six straight to open the new stanza.

For Charleston, SoCon All-Freshman Team member Janae Smith scored 18 points.

Up one at the half, Davidson opened up the game over an eight-minute stretch with a 22-8 run capped off by an and-one play from Johnsen, who finished off the three-point play with a free throw, to give the ‘Cats a commanding 53-38 lead and 11:39 left in the game.

Five straight points by Lax, a three-ball and a pair of free throws, later pushed the lead out to 16 points (61-45), with 6:55 remaining, and Davidson rolled the rest of the way.

Also playing strong in the second half was senior Chloe Woodington, who scored six of her eight points during the game-changing run to open the second half.

GAME NOTES: Davidson went 15-of-16 from the line and are shooting a sizzling 88.6 percent in the last two games (39-44) … the Cats dished out 18 assists to give them 54 in the last three games (18 a game) … Barbara Sitton had five of those assists to give her 25 in the last three contests … the Wildcats improved to 11-17 all-time at the SoCon Tournament … their last win came in 2007, a quarterfinals victory vs. Wofford.

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