Charlotte, NC - The Johnson & Wales Charlotte women's basketball team bounced back from their first loss in 2022 to record a pair of wins this weekend.

The Wildcats allowed an opening bucket to Regent, but then ran off an 11-0 run to open up a comfortable lead. JWU held the Royals to just 5 first quarter points, and then exploded for 31 points themselves in the second quarter, a season-high. The spurt was keyed by three Mariana Ballard three-pointers, to go along with one each from Jordan McDuffie and Leslie Hodges. The long distance shooting helped JWU to a 47-22 halftime lead. 

A pair of McDuffie threes in the last two minutes of the third quarter helped push the lead to 33 at 66-33. The Wildcats never led by fewer than 25 points in the fourth, as they cruised to a 75-52 win. 

McDuffie scored 22 points on 9-15 shooting. Mariana Ballard had a career-high 21 points, going 6-11 from the three point line. Jayla Lovett added 11 points.

Saturday's contest against Apprentice followed a similar script. JWU opened 14-5 first quarter lead behind threes from McDuffie and Ballard, and led 19-11 after the first.

McDuffie's third three of the half put the Wildcats up by 12, 26-14 two minutes into the second quarter. Back-to-back layups from Jayla Lovett in the final minute of the half gave JWU their largest lead to that point at 43-21. The Builders converted four free throws just before the halftime horn to cut their deficit at the break to 18, 43-25.

JWU really blew the game open in the third outscoring Apprentice by 15 points in the period. The scoring burst was keyed by 13 points from Karynton Clark and 9 from Leslie Hodges as the Wildcats shot 56% (9-16) in the stanza.

Apprentice got only as close as 22 points in the fourth before eventually falling by 29, 86-57.

Jordan McDuffie led the Wildcats with 24 points and 11 rebounds in her last home game. Both Karynton Clark (16 points), and Leslie Hodges (12 points) had career-high scoring days. Joyiah White paired 5 points with 10 rebounds and 5 blocks.

JWU improves to 15-3 on the season and 7-1 in EMAC play. Regent drops to 1-12 and 0-7 in the EMAC. Apprentice falls to 2-13 overall and 1-6 in the EMAC.

The Wildcats are next in action on Saturday, Feb. 19 when they travel to Mid-Atlantic Christian for a 3pm tip-off.