'Cats end regular season with tournament sweep

The Wildcats wrapped up their 2010-2011 regular season with a 14-14 record and went 7-1 in conference action following a 84-50 win over Walla Walla University. The 'Cats sweeped the Lady Wolves after taking the previous matchup on Thursday night. In addition to the victory, Johnson & Wales won the Walla Walla University tournament with their 3-0 record over the weekend. Samantha Neal and Kourtney Shirley were also named to the All-Tournament team.

The Lady Wolves added points to the board first with back to back buckets before Shirley added a basket from deep for JWU to bring the game to 4-3. Johnson & Wales shook off the late evening start and shifted the game in their direction going on a 28-9 run over the next ten minutes to hold the game 32-13 at the seven minute mark. Despite a short surge by Walla Walla in the closing minutes of the half, the Wildcats maintained a 48-25 lead headed into the break.

Second half action got underway with Johnson & Wales showing some vulnerability with just 12/30 shooting, but made it to the charity stripe for 12 attempts.  JWU didn't find as many open shots from beyond the arc as they did in the first half with just half the attempts sinking three more three-point shots in the half. The Wildcats hovered around the 30 point lead for the rest of the game taking the 84-50 win.

All five starters scored in double digits behind Jessica Huebner and Andrea Austin's double-doubles. Huebner had a team high 16 points and 12 boards while Austin added 10 points and 11 rebounds. Sierra King had a game high 19 points brought down 10 rebounds for the Lady Wolves.

Johnson & Wales will prepare this week for the Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) Division II Women's Basketball Conference Championships next weekend in Gary, Indiana hosted by Indiana University Northwest.