Bears Athletics - McGaughey and Baxter Lead Shaw to Win Over Saint Paul's

Jan’el Baxter’s 17 Rebounds Lead Shaw Defense To A 58-33 Win Over Saint Paul’s

(Raleigh, NC) – Shaw capitalized on Saint Paul’s rough shooting afternoon and on outstanding performances by two starters to easily defeat the Lady Tigers 58-33. Jan’el Baxter collected 17 rebounds, while Tanisha McGaughey finished the game with 22 points and nine rebounds.

In a game characterized by sloppy play and strong defense, Shaw (2-1, 2-1 CIAA) overwhelmed the Saint Paul’s (1-3, 1-1 CIAA) simply by finding a shooting touch in the second half that had been absent in the first.

The Lady Bears shot 35.3 percent in the second half – a vast improvement over their six for 28 (21.9 percent) performance in the first. Saint Paul’s struggled all afternoon, shooting only 16.9 percent (10 for 59) on the afternoon.

The first half started ugly and only got uglier as the game continued. It took nearly three minutes before either team scored a field goal – a layup by Shaw’s Victoria Tanner. Saint Paul’s did not hit the scoreboard until DeAudra Brown made a layup with 14:10 left in the first half, to make the score 5-2.

Shaw finally hit double figures when a layup by Baxter gave the Bears an 11-5 lead with 8:26 left in the half. The Lady Tigers hit double digits when Shalyn Davis’ layup with 4:52 left in the half cut the Lady Bears’ lead to three, 13-10. Less than a minute later, McGaughey (right) hit a layup – Shaw’s last field goal in the half. By the time the period ended, Shaw had built a 21-16 lead.

Neither team managed to benefit from the other’s mistakes. Despite 11 turnovers by the Lady Bears and 14 by the Lady Tigers, each team scored only seven points off of turnovers.

Shaw came out in the second half and quickly showed that the first half had been an anomaly. The Lady Bears built a 14-point lead in seven minutes, largely on McGaughey’s scoring (five points in the run) and Baxter’s rebounding (six in that span).

McGaughey led both teams with 22 points. Victoria Tanner had 11. McGaughey also led the Bears with six assists. Baxter’s 17 rebounds (four offensive, 13 defensive) led both teams. McGaughey was second on the team with nine rebounds. No Lady Tiger reached double figures in points. Tiffany Merritt led the team with eight. Davis led Saint Paul’s with 11 rebounds.

The Lady Bears next face off against Elizabeth City State on Tuesday, December 1 at 5:30 p.m. Their next home game is Thursday, December 17 against Central State at 6:00 p.m.

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