CULLOWHEE, N.C. — Lindsay Simpson scored 19 points, and Western Carolina held Georgia Southern to 28 percent shooting in the first half to earn a 63-52 Southern Conference women's basketball victory over Georgia Southern Wednesday night in the Ramsey Activity Center.
    Meredyth Frye led Georgia Southern (4-19, 3-11 SoCon) with a season-high 20 points to go along with seven rebounds. Danielle Spencer posted 10 points and eight rebounds, and Anna Claire Knight collected 11 points, six rebounds and four assists.
    Simpson was 8-of-17 from the floor for Western Carolina (7-17, 5-10 SoCon), and Shauna Terry collected 13 points and eight boards. Diamond Hunnicutt finished with 11 points and five rebounds.
    The Catamounts built a 27-19 halftime lead thanks to a 12-4 over the final 7:02 of the first half. Hunnicutt led the charge with five points during the run, and the Eagles finished the half with 11 turnovers and were held to 7-of-25 from the field.
    "They were pressuring us and doubling ball screens, and we didn't attack their pressure, which caused us to be passive and not as sharp as we need to be to execute our offense," said Georgia Southern coach Chris Vozab.
    The lead grew to as many as 15 points on an Ali Lane 3-pointer with 6:13 left in the game. The Eagles would not go away and cut the margin to seven points twice inside the last two minutes. A 3-pointer by Alexis Sams and a conventional 3-point play by Frye sparked the run, but Hunnicutt hit a runner with the shot clock winding down to make the score 57-48 with 1:28 remaining.
    Frye hit a jumper on the Eagles' next possession, and GSU got the ball back after a turnover. The Eagles got the ball inside to Spencer, and the junior made a strong move to the basket but her layup rolled off the front of the rim with 1:08 to play. The Eagles elected to foul, and Western Carolina sealed with the win by going 6-for-8 from the charity stripe.

"We started playing with a sense of urgency on both ends of the floor, but when you are trying to come back late in the game, you need every break to go your way, and that's a bad position to be in and often too difficult to overcome," said Vozab.

The Eagles head back home to host Samford and Chattanooga in Hanner Fieldhouse this weekend. Four of the Eagles' last six regular-season games are at home.