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Dec. 1, 2007
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - A controversial foul call sent the crowd into a frenzy and put Longwood University's Keiva Small on the line with 1.5 seconds remaining and the game tied at 42. She made the first and missed the second, forcing the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) to have no shot attempt and suffer a heartbreaking defeat 43-42 to the Lancers. With just 25 seconds remaining in the game UMES was down three, 42-39. April McBride drove to the basket, missed in traffic and got the put back to make it 42-41. She was fouled on the play and calmly sunk the free throw to tie it at 42 all. After a timeout Longwood ran their offense but Small missed a jumper to win it. The ball was lose on the floor and Small picked up and attempted a shot that appeared blocked by McBride but a foul was called and Small made the shot and gave Longwood the win. UMES was without its top scorer Tiffany Reid and reserve guard Jelila Abdul-Bassit for the game. The defensive effort was still there as Longwood scored just 43 points and shot just over 32 percent for the game. "I can't say enough about the defense," said Head Coach Fred Batchelor. "But when you hold a team to 43 points you have to win. We missed a lot of shots and didn't take advantage of opportunities. We forced 26 turnovers but only scored 16 points on them, half of what we should have. We didn't connect on free throws either, offensively we really just struggled." The offense was ineffective without Reid or the long distance shooting of Abdul-Bassit. They shot just under 30 percent for the game and only 57 percent form the free throw line. They connected on just two of eight from long range. April McBride led the Lady Hawks in scoring with 12 points but no other player was in double figures. She also led the rebounding effort with six. Batchelor looked to the bench for some scoring, playing 11 players, but to no avail. Talareah Frazier had a career high seven points and Kristi Veltkamp added six. Only four other UMES players scored.
In contrast, Longwood got 16 points and a game high eight rebounds from Small and 12 points from Odessa Williams. Krystal Garrison added eight to the effort. The Lancers led the first six minutes of the game but UMES bounced back and made the half a back and forth effort until halftime. The Hawks led 23-22 at the break, a half that saw six ties. UMES led by as many as four in the second half, another period of play with four ties. They maintained the lead 39-38 with 4:321 to play. William's jumper gave the Lancers the lead with 3:13 to play before the end of game dramatics. The Hawk's play their sixth game in a row at home on Monday night when they host Western Michigan at 6:00 p.m. |
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