Thursday, March 09, 2006

DOTHAN, Ala. – Fourth-seeded Gardner-Webb carved its own niche in school history after defeating No. 5 Campbell 71-65 to claim the program’s first Atlantic Sun Conference Postseason victory.

Gardner-Webb will face top-seeded Belmont in the semifinals. Belmont swept the season series from the Bulldogs.

Gardner-Webb (13-15) looked like they were going to pull away from their North Carolina rival early as the Bulldogs built a nine-point lead after Candyce Kelly’s basket in the lane made the score 28-19. However, the Lady Camels (11-18) rushed to the intermission on a 14-5 spurt to leave the game tied at 33-33 as the team’s headed into the locker room.

Despite the rally, Campbell could not get back over the hump. After Tomika Tomlinson buried one of her career-high five three-pointers to tie the game at 40-40, Gardner-Webb used a 20-9 run capped by Shameka Smith’s lay-up to give GWU their largest lead of the game at 11 points with 2:54 remaining. Campbell could only climb as close as four points for the remainder of the game.

Shameka Smith finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds to pace Gardner-Webb while three other Bulldogs reached double figures. Tomlinson finished with a season-high 17 points for the Lady Camels.

The Bulldogs faces the Bruins at 6:00 pm in tomorrow’s first semifinal match-up.

General Notes
• The tournament’s #4 seed is 17-19, while the #5 seed 9-19 all-time.
• Gardner-Webb is making its first tournament appearance, while Campbell is 8-9 in tournament play all-time.

Gardner-Webb Notes
• Gardner-Webb won their first ever Atlantic Sun tournament game this evening.
• Gardner-Webb is 12-4 when scoring 60 points or more but is only 1-11 when failing to reach the mark.
• Shameka Smith tallied her seventh double-double of the season with 19 points and 13 rebounds.
• Gardner-Webb posted their second best free throw percentage of the season, hitting 79.3% from the line.

Campbell Notes
• Second team All-Conference selection Adrienne Rieley missed today’s game after leaving Dothan this morning with an undisclosed family emergency.
• Entering the game averaging 5.9 points per game, senior reserve Tomika Tomlinson scored a season-high17 points.
• Tomlinson hit a career-high five three-point field goals, also a Campbell A-Sun tournament record.
• The Campbell bench provided over 50% of the team’s offense in tonight’s game, scoring 35 of the team’s 63 points.