CULLOWHEE, N.C. – Sha'Mya Leigh and Tori Gittens scored in double-figures Saturday afternoon, but Western Carolina used a strong second quarter to defeat Charleston Southern, 74-48, inside the Ramsey Center.
 
Leigh finished with a season-high 11, while Gittens had 10. It was the second straight game that Leigh and Gittens finished in double-figures. Gittens led the Bucs with four rebounds, while four different CSU players had two steals each.
 
CSU jumped out to an early 7-2 lead at the first media timeout, with Madison Adamson scoring five points in the first five minutes. A 3-pointer by Leigh and a layup by Gittens put CSU in front inside the final minute of the opening quarter, but WCU scored on each of its last two possessions to take a 14-12 lead after 10 minutes.
 
Western Carolina opened the second quarter on a 13-0 run and never looked back. Leigh hit a pair of 3-pointers midway through the quarter, but by then the Buccaneer deficit had climbed into double-digits. A Janaia Fargo layup just before the halftime buzzer sent the teams to the locker rooms with the Catamounts in front, 37-24.
 
Sharita Godfrey drained a 3-pointer to open the scoring in the second half, but WCU went on a quick scoring run to push its lead back up to 16 points, 45-29. Fargo connected on a pair of long-range shots to cut the CSU deficit back to 12 midway through the quarter, but that was as close as the Bucs got for the rest of the game. WCU took a 58-40 lead into the fourth quarter.
 
Back-to-back jumpers by Gittens and Adamson early in the final quarterhad the Bucs thinking of a comeback, but a 10-0 Catamount run pushed WCU's lead to 24. The Bucs were limited to just a pair of free throws by Makenna Winans in the final eight minutes, as WCU closed out on a 14-2 run.
 
Up Next
Charleston Southern closes its two-game road trip Friday at Auburn, with tipoff set for 1 p.m.
 
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