Wesleyan rode the wave of a hot second quarter and completely overwhelmed Lovett on the way to a 69-23 victory over the host Lions on Friday night.  Leading 14-6 after the first quarter, the Lady Wolves pressured Lovett into turnovers that resulted in some easy scores during the second.  Wesleyan outscored Lovett 26-5 in the quarter to take a 40-11 lead into halftime.  Leading 61-19 at the end of the third quarter, the Lady Wolves were once again made to play a 6:00 minute fourth quarter as the rule of shaving 2 minutes from the last quarter was applied due to the lead being over 30 points.  Despite the lopsided score, Lovett played hard for all four quarters, moved the ball well on offense and had some success breaking Wesleyan's press in the first half.  This Lovett team will have better days ahead.   Anne Marie Armstrong had her best offensive output of the season scoring a team and season high 31 points... in three quarters.  She did not play at all in the fourth. She capped off her double double night by grabbing 11 boards.  Her 31 points is the second highest scoring total of her Wesleyan career bested only by a 32-point performance against Pace Academy last season.  Erin Hall was the only other Wesleyan player in double figures as she contributed 11 points on a night where she saw limited playing time due to foul trouble.  She also had five steals.  Worthy of mention is Chantel Kennedy's first career three pointer which she nailed like a pro in the third quarter.  Kennedy had triple sevens on the night as she scored seven points, had seven assists and seven steals.  Aysia McKenzie was a perfect three for three for the night as she connected on the only three pointer she attempted as well as the two two-pointers she took.  She scored seven points while dishing four assists and recording three steals.  With the win, the Lady Wovles improve to 7-2 overall, 4-0 in region action.  Wesleyan will now have 12 days off as they prepare for final exams next week followed by Christmas.  The Lady Wolves will next face Cookeville (TN) in the first round of the Deep South Classic at Brookwood High School on Wednesday, December 26th at 12:30 PM.   This will be the third meeting between the schools.  Both previous meetings also came in the Deep South Classic.  Cookeville defeated Wesleyan 61-44 in the 2001 DSC while Wesleyan evened the series with a 67-53 win in 2003.

Wesleyan could not capitalize on a slew of scoring opportunities in the paint which was ultimately the difference in a gut wrenching 54-50 loss to Bishop McGuinness of North Carolina in the Peach State Basketball Battle of the Southeast Saturday night.  In what was the final game of the evening in the showcase event which featured five games with local teams and teams from across the southeast, the Lady Wolves had a difficult time simply putting the ball in the basket.  The Lady Wolves held a 19-11 lead midway through the second quarter but went ice cold for what seemed like hours.  Bishop McGuinness went on a 15-1 run to gain a 26-20 lead and led by four at half time.   Despite their shooting woes, the Lady Wovles battled back in the third quarter and took a 40-36 lead into the fourth.  The lead changed hands several times in the fourth but when Bishop McGuinness took a 47-40 lead with three minutes left, it seemed the Lady Wolves would be finished.  However, Wesleyan again battled and closed the gap to 47-46.  With under one minute left, Bishop McGuinness held a 52-50 lead when Wesleyan sophomore Judean Hanks gathered a loose ball on the floor and appeared to signal for a time out.  The time out was issued to Bishop McGuinness however.  Bishop McGuinness held possession of the ball after the timeout as well as a two point lead and was able to hold on for the 54-50 win.  The Lady Wolves did not help their own cause in this game as there were many missed opportunites to put the visitors from North Carolina away in the first half.  Many Wesleyan players simply had trouble getting the ball in the hoop from short range.  The brightest spots for Wesleyan tonight were Anne Marie Armstrong and Grace Leah Baughn who scored 19 and 10 points respectively.  Chalk this one up to just one of those games where the ball just didn't bounce the Lady Wolves' way, coupled with a good opponent on the other side of the court.  After all, Bishop McGuinness has only lost one game over the past two years and finished last season ranked No. 11 nationally by USA Today.  Still this was a very winnable game for Wesleyan who, had they brought their A game, would have fared much better.  Wesleyan drops to 3-2 on the season while Bishop McGuinness improves to 3-0.  The Lady Wolves resume region play on Tuesday as they travel out to Cherokee County to take on Creekview.  Game time is 6:00 PM.

Wesleyan showed its range Tuesday night as the Lady Wolves hit nine three pointers in an 85-39 rout of Walker in their home opener.  The Lady Wolverines were no match for the Lady Wolves in a game where everyone saw playing time.  Wesleyan led 17-6 at the end of the first quarter and 43-19 at halftime and the blueprint for a big win was drawn.  Four Wesleyan players hit threes in the game and Erin Hall was responsible for five of them as she had the hot hand all night.  Hall led all scorers with 23 points and had five assists and four rebounds in Wesleyan's first region game of the season.  Anne Marie Armstrong added 16 points, nine rebounds, six assists, six steals and two blocked shots.  Grace Leah Baughn had a career high 15 points to go with her four rebounds and three steals .  Baughn, a freshman, is only four games into her "career" but it was definitely her best offensive output of the young season.  Logan Morris added a season-high 11 points, four boards and two blocks for Wesleyan.  Armstrong was presented a plaque prior to the game in recongnition for scoring her 1000th career point last Tuesday against Mill Creek.  She becomes the sixth Wesleyan player to join the 1000-point club joining former Wesleyan greats Nikki Luckhurst, Jenny Hall, Dana Birnie, Carolyn Whitney and Sarah Moye. 

With the win, Wesleyan improves to 3-1 overall, 1-0 in region play.  The Lady Wolves will next face two-time defending North Carolina 1A state champion Bishop McGinnis at 7PM on Satruday in the Peach State Basketball Battle of the Southeast, hosted by Wesleyan.  Bishop McGuinness also finished last season ranked No. 11 in the nation by USA Today posting a 32-1 record.  The Peach State Basektball Battle of the Southeast will be an all-day event consisting of five games featuring local teams and teams from around the Southeast.   The complete schedule is listed below.

• 12:20 PM - JL Mann (SC) vs. Northview
• 2:00 PM - Hoover (AL) vs. Southwest Atlanta Christian
• 3:40 PM - Southwest Dekalb vs. Dorman (SC)
• 5:20 PM - Buford vs. Marist
• 7:00 PM - Wesleyan vs. Bishop McGuinness (NC)

The finals of the Parkview Holiday Tipoff Classic were once again unkind to the Lady Wolves as Wesleyan fell to Mill Creek 72-58 Tuesday night.  This was Wesleyan's third straight appearance in the championship game but the result was the same as the previous two, a loss to a very good team from a larger classification.  Mill Creek, ranked No. 3 in AAAAA, had free reign of the court, especially the lane, and took full advantage of it.  Wesleyan did not have quite the same experience and had to scratch and claw for every point.  Their play was affected as they were somewhat timid in certain aspects of the game... from not aggressively going after loose balls, to poor rebounding.  Down by 16 late in the third quarter, Wesleyan was able to cut the lead to eight and had a couple of opportunities to cut the lead to six or five but could not capitalize.  Mill Creek was able to pull away in the end, mainly behind the efforts of ultra-quick guard Porsha Porter who scored 21 points in the game and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.  Anne Marie Armstrong led Wesleyan's scoring effort with 16 points to go with her eight rebounds, four assists and four steals.  Chantel Kennedy added 12 points and five steals while Erin Hall chipped in 10 points and three steals.  Armstrong was also named to the All Tournament Team.  The highlight of Wesleyan's evening came at the end of the game although no one realized it due to the time which it occurred.  Armstrong scored her 1000th career point with her last basket as time was running out.  This accomplishment will be properly acknowleged at Wesleyan's first home game of the season  The Lady Wolves now have a week off to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday, then it's back to action as they will face their first region opponent of the year as Walker pays a visit on Tuesday, November 27.  Tipoff is 6:00 PM.

 A few years ago, former tennis pro Brad Gilbert wrote a book titled “Winning Ugly”.  The basic premise was that it is not necessarily how good you look as long as you play well enough to put yourself in a position to win...no matter how ugly it might be.  That pretty much describes Wesleyan’s 57-48 win over the host team in the semi-finals of the Parkview Tipoff Holiday Classic Monday night.  It certainly wasn’t pretty and for some reason, the Lady Wolves’ contests with Parkview never are.  But, Wesleyan did what it had to do to get the W.  For the third straight year, Wesleyan knocked Parkview out of their tournament in the semi-finals.  The Lady Wolves won 55-53 in overtime in 2005 and 55-54 last year.  This game was just as close as the previous two and it wasn’t until late in the fourth quarter that Wesleyan was finally able to pull away, mainly behind the eight points Erin Hall contributed in the quarter.  The Lady Wolves built an early 10-4 lead but Parkview quickly closed as the lead changed hands quite a few times in the first half.  As poorly and out of sorts as Wesleyan played in the first half, they still were able to hold a 26-22 lead at the break.  The Panthers came out on fire to start the second half going on a 10-0 run to start the third quarter, taking a 32-26 lead.  After a timeout, Wesleyan gathered themselves and began executing as they have been taught and became more patient.  This resulted in a 10-0 run of their own and they retook the lead 36-32 with 2:01 to play in the third quarter.  Parkview closed to within one as Wesleyan led 40-39 heading into the fourth.  Wesleyan increased the lead to five but it quickly shrunk to two after a Parkview three pointer.  Hall quickly answered with a three of her own on the other end and the lead was back to five.  After an Anna Keappler steal, Hall connected on a nice pull up jumper and the lead was seven and Parkview was effectively done for the night.  This was certainly an ugly win for Wesleyan as the offense never really got into any kind of rhythm and the defense was porous at times.  Still, this ended up being Wesleyan’s largest margin of victory in the series with Parkview which the Lady Wolves now lead 3-2 all time.  The final score doesn’t belie the closeness of this contest as neither team lead by more than six until late in the fourth quarter.  Hall led all scorers with 17 points while Anne Marie Armstrong added 13 points and five blocked shots.  Keappler also added eight points on six-for-six shooting from the free throw line, and had four rebounds.  Aysia McKenzie put in an outstnding defensive performance on Parkview's star point guard Sczeny Hartry.  McKenzie also contributed on the offensive end with seven points and four assists.  Chantel Kennedy chipped in with six points and a team-high seven boards.  Wesleyan now advances to the championship game for the third straight year and will face a team from the largest school in the state, Mill Creek, ranked No. 3 in AAAAA in the GaSports.com poll and No. 4 in the GSWA poll.  Wesleyan is now 2-0 on the season.  Game time is 6:30 PM Tuesday.

The Lady Wolves opened the 2007-2008 season Saturday afternoon with a resounding 95-41 drubbing of Class AAAA Riverdale in the first round of the Parkview Tipoff Holiday Classic.  It seemed apparent from the outset that Wesleyan will have a deep and talented team this year as they raced to a 37-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.  The full court press was lethal as Riverdale had trouble inbounding the ball.  What resulted were many steals and easy scores for the Lady Wolves.  The defense continued to create the offense in the second quarter and Wesleyan took a 55-26 lead into halftime.  The full court press was gone after the second quarter but Wesleyan's offensive output didn't stop.  They scored in transition off the fast break and scored in the half court as well.  The lead was upped to 79-35 heading into the shortened fourth quarter as they only played a 6:00 quarter.  The Lady Wolves scored often and in a variety of ways in this game which should make them a pretty dangerous team.  Riverdale tried a man to man defense but Wesleyan was able to penetrate with it's slew of good ball-handling guards.  When Riverdale switched to a zone, Wesleyan responded with six three pointers for the game.  Five players scored in double figures led by Anne Marie Armstrong's 21 points while playing with a stiched gash above her right eye which occurred during the scrimmage with Dunwoody three nights earlier.  Armstrong also had five assists and five steals.  Sharp shooting Erin Hall had 16 points along with seven assists.  Judean Hanks made her Wesleyan debut scoring 13 points including three three pointers. while recording a game high seven steals.  Kennington Groff and Aysia McKenzie added 10 points apiece for the Lady Wolves.   McKenzie also dishsed four assists on the night.  This was a very solid performance for a first game of the season.  Wesleyan is now 1-0 on the young season.  The Lady Wolves will next face Parkview, a 66-29 winner over Decatur, in the semi-finals.  Tipoff is Monday at 6PM.