Bobcats Weekly Wrap

Men’s Soccer:
The Lees-McRae College men’s soccer team departed this past Monday for Tampa, FL and the Division II Final Four held at Pepin Stadium. The Bobcats will take on Fort Lewis in a national semifinal, with the winner playing the winner of the match between this evening. The Bobcats have been on a roll since a 1-0 upset loss at the hands of Coker College in the Conference Carolinas Tournament, defeating the University of Tampa 1-0 in Banner Elk on November 21^st as part of a three-game tourney win streak to punch its ticket into the Final Four.

Lees-McRae achieved its first-ever #1 ranking in NCAA Division II during the regular season and currently stands at 18-2-1 on the season.

Ladies Volleyball:
This past week Whitey Justice earned First Team All-Southeast Region according to the AVCA and Second Team All-Southeast Region according to Daktronics and Luana Rocha, earned First Team All-Southeast Region from the AVCA for the Lees-McRae College women’s volleyball team.

The AVCA is voted on by the Southeast Region coaches, while Daktronics is voted on by the SIDs of the Southeast Region.

Justice, who was named All-Conference Carolinas First Team and Player of the Year, had 386 kills in 125 sets for an average of 3.09 kills per set. She also had 116 total blocks, 17 solo blocks and 99 block assists, for an average of .93 blocks per set.

Rocha, who was named First Team All-Conference Carolinas Freshman of the Year and First Team, had 675 digs in 125 sets for an average of 5.40 digs per set.

The Lady Bobcats finished first in the Conference Carolinas regular season and won the tournament to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where they lost in the first round to Flagler.

Men’s Basketball:
The Pfeiffer University Falcons defeated Lees-McRae College, 124-65, in the Bobcats men’s basketball Conference Carolinas opener Tuesday, November 24^th.

Pfeiffer opened the game on a 19-0 run before Jeremy Helms hit a free throw and went on to score the first nine points and 13 of the team's first half 19 points. Pfeiffer took a 56-19 lead into the half time.

The Falcons were 59 percent from the floor and a whopping 70 percent from behind the arc, while the Bobcats were 25 percent from field goal range and 37 percent from three.

In the second half, the Bobcats offense scored 46 points, but Pfeiffer responded with 68 points to win the game 124-65.

Lees-McRae improved to 59 percent in the second half from the floor and 62 percent from three, and Pfeiffer was 68 percent from the floor and 57 percent from three-point range in the half.

Sam Youse scored 16 points to lead the Bobcats, and Helms added 15 points. Josh Kurtz and Stephen Haymer collected four rebounds, and Daniel Sepokas had five assists.

Sixty of Pfeiffer’s 124 points came from three-point range.

Lees-McRae will travel to St. Andrews Saturday, December 5th for their next game with tipoff set for 4 p.m.

Women’s Basketball:
The Lees-McRae College Lady Bobcats dropped their Conference Carolinas opener, 70-61, Tuesday night to the Pfeiffer University Lady Falcons in women’s basketball action.

Lees-McRae jumped out to an early 9-2 lead with 17:18 left to play in the half, but four minutes later Pfeiffer would give the game the first tie at 11.

The two teams would tie the game twice over the next two minutes before the Lady Bobcats would take an 18-15 lead on a Jessica Blair made three pointer. However, the Lady Falcons would battle back and take a 21-19 lead one-minute later and hold the lead for the remainder of the half.

Pfeiffer pushed the lead to seven on a field goal just before the half to take a 34-27 lead into the locker rooms.

In the second half, Lees-McRae closed the lead to three, 36-33, three minutes into the half on a Colette Montgomery layup, and again to three on two Icey Patterson free throws with 16:34 remaining in the half.

Pfeiffer would counter with an 11-2 run to take an 49-38 lead with 12:18 remaining, but again Lees-McRae would close the gap to three on Brittany Williams' layup with just over eight minutes remaining. After a defensive stop and a Blair field goal, the lead was one, 55-54, but the Lady Bobcats would not regain the lead as the Lady Falcon stayed just out of reach to win, 70-61.

The Lady Bobcats were 39 percent from the floor and 26 percent from three-point range, while Pfeiffer was 37 percent from the floor and 15 percent from behind the arc.

Lees-McRae was led by Montgomery, who had a double-double with 14 points and 13 rebounds. Patterson just missed a double-double with 11 points and nine assists. Blair added nine points, and Lauren Casey collected eight rebounds.

Devona Knight had 14 points for the Lady Falcons and was followed by Jamila Harris, who had 11 points. Knight also had a double-double with 10 rebounds to go along with her 14 points.

The Lady Bobcats returned to action this past Monday when they hosted Milligan College. In a tight contest, the Lady Buffaloes held off the Lady Bobcats by a final score of 59-55.

Lees-McRae held a slim 29-27 edge at intermission, but the Lady Bobcats could not overcome 20 points from Heather Mandela. Lees-McRae was more accurate shooting the ball in the loss, hitting 38.5 percent of its shots compared to just 35.1 percent for the Lady Buffs.

Lady Bobcats guard Lauren Casey led the way with 14 points on 5 of 11 shooting to go with six rebounds. Icey Patterson chipped in 11 points off the bench for the only Lees-McRae players in double-figures scoring. Collette Montgomery added a team-high nine rebounds for the contest.

The team will host North Greenville on Thursday evening at 5 p.m. and travel to take on St. Andrews on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m.

For more on Lees-McRae athletics, visit the school’s site at www.lmcbobcats.com or visit www.ajtsports.blogspot.com, the Avery Journal-Times Sports Blog.
Information from LMC and Milligan College Sports Information was used in compiling this report.