RADFORD, Va. – The Radford women’s basketball program fell in a tough one Wednesday afternoon with a 79-60 final against College of Charleston. The Highlanders came back out for a much better second half, but it wasn’t enough for the comeback on Education Day.
To start things off on the early morning tip, College of Charleston didn’t come out sleepwalking. After two scoreless minutes the opposing Cougars sunk the first made basket of the game. Carmen Williams wasted no time responding to that make with a layup of her own. An and-one put the lead back on the Cougars side where it would remain for the rest of the game.
At the three-minute mark in the first quarter, Tatiana Beaumont stopped a 5-0 run by the Cougars with her first of many three-pointers on the day. A 7-0 run by the Cougars made it a 23-9 deficit as Radford would try to climb back in the second quarter. Rachel LaLonde broke through a suffocating defense for an and-one to stop the run, but College of Charleston kept rolling outscoring Radford 22-16 in the second quarter.
Coming out of the halftime break Radford knew it needed a strong performance to overcome a 47-25 score. While Radford wouldn’t be able to get it all back, the Highlanders played much better to stick around in the second half. Radford won the turnover battle in the third quarter and shot 37% including a pair of made three-pointers by Beaumont and Trinity Klock.
The strong pace continued into the fourth quarter, the Highlanders’ best shooting quarter of the day at 44% overall. Radford out-rebounded College of Charleston and only turned the ball over three times to outscore the Cougars 18-12 in the quarter. As the final horn blew the final score read 79-60 in the Cougars favor.
CONTROLLING THE BOARDS
A positive stat line for Radford on the day was the team’s presence on the offensive boards. Radford pulled down 11 as a team today and narrowly lost the rebound battle 46-44. Rachel LaLonde and Ashlyn Traylor both pulled down nine rebounds each while Jackie Christ and Klock both had five each.
ALMOST THREE-STRAIGHT
The beat went on for the freshman Traylor today as she just missed her third-straight double-double. Traylor finished the game with 12 points and nine rebounds while also dishing out an assist and collecting a block along the way. Traylor earned Big South Freshman of the Week honors just this past Monday for her back-to-back double-doubles against UNC Wilmington and Bluefield State.
UP NEXT
The Highlanders finish up their four-game home stand by renewing a former Big South rivalry with Liberty. The two commonwealth foes are facing each other for the first time ever as non-conference foes after 70 meetings in the Big South over 40 years. Tip is set for 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, December 4th with action being streamed on ESPN+.
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