College women’s basketball: Catawba gets 30th straight home win
Published 12:50 pm Sunday, February 18, 2024
- Catawba's Mary Spry
Staff report
SALISBURY — When Lyrik Thorne, Janiya Downs and Sara McIntosh announced they’d be back for a fifth season, there wasn’t much doubt the Indians would be one of the teams with a chance to win championships, including a national title.
The biggest enemy through the regular-season grind probably has been boredom because the team’s leaders have been there and done that so many times.The Indians haven’t always been sharp. They’ve lost three times away from Goodman Arena and have survived countless close calls on the road in the South Atlantic Conference.
They are ranked 12th — they were a lot higher than that earlier — and they still are tinkering with important things like the starting lineup and bench minutes with the postseason just around the corner. But they know it’s time to get serious, and they had a relatively easy one at home on Saturday. The final against Coker was a 73-60 victory, but it should have been a romp. It was 7-0, it was 27-11, and it was 41-20 and pretty much over at halftime.
Catawba led by 29 in the third quarter, put it in cruise control, and watched the Cobras cut the lead down as low as 11.
Catawba had a solid shooting day — 48 percent — in special pink Play4Kay uniforms. Also special was recognition for Thorne for achieving 2,000 career points for the Indians. No Catawba female has ever done that.
Thorne added 17 to her total on Saturday in front of 341 fans, as Catawba stretched its winning streak at home to 30 games. No D-II women’s team has a longer one.
Downs, who starred at South Rowan, had 13 points and seven rebounds. McIntosh scored 11. Nala Baker came off the bench ‚— she normally starts — and scored 10. Mary Spry, the former Carson star, also had 10 off the bench. She shot 5-for-7.
Catawba (18-4, 13-3) stayed in first place in the SAC. Coker (14-9, 8-8) is one of the middle-of-the-pack teams.
The Indians are home again on Wednesday against Limestone.
Coker 11 9 18 22 — 60
Catawba 19 22 18 14 — 73
CATAWBA — Thorne 17, Downs 13, McIntosh 11, Spry 10, Baker 10, Foskey 4, Helpman 3, Wilson 3, Dixon-Booker 2.
