Feb. 22, 2010
Final Stats
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The Lady Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman Women's Basketball fell short in trying to overcome Lady Bison leads due to subpar free throw shooting, in addition to untimely turnovers and poor shot selection down the stretch in the second half. The Lady Wildcats found themselves in a position to climb on top, in both halves, while fighting back from a deficit. After cutting the Howard lead from ten to just two, B-CU was not finding the best shots and came up lacking, falling to HU, 59-53.
B-CU began to find struggles on offense early in the first half, hitting two scoring droughts totalling four minutes in which Howard outscored 12-6. As the half wound down, B-CU climbed back into the game, scoring on four of the next five possessions to tie up the game. The teams traded scores, and went into the half.
The Lady Wildcats found the same scoring issues early in the second half, going nearly the entire first five minutes of the second period without a field goal. In the meantime, Howard had amassed a double-digit advantage. After getting on the board for the first time in the new half, B-CU launched a 13-0 run of their own to push on top. However, a technical foul in addition to a shooting foul put four free throws on the board, and put starting center Sarah Bolden on the bench with five fouls, and eight minutes remaining.
It proved to be a momentum swing and a turning point in the game, as the Lady Bison put nine unanswered points on the board (following the free throws) to take a ten point lead with the clock ticking away. It looked as though the Lady Wildcats had one final rally in them, cutting the lead to just two points with :33 on the clock, but Howard took care of business on the free throw line, making their final four, and B-CU did not take wise shots to regain the points. As the final buzzer sounded, Howard held off the final B-CU rally, winning 59-53.
Howard was able to take advantage of B-CU inside with their quick post players, making opportunities of offensive rebounds, and scoring 13 second-chance points (8 in the second half). The Lady Bison also made good use of their turnovers, putting in 19 points from turnovers.
"I thought that in the first half we did not come out with the energy that we needed," said Head Coach Vanessa Inge. "It was difficult for us to score most of the night, unless we were scoring in transition."
Demetria Frank led the Lady Wildcats in scoring, with 14, but largely from the free throw line, where she was 9 of 12. Jasmine Daniels added 13 points, making slashing moves to the basket to both get layups and dish off to a cutting team mates, leading the team with 6 assists. Forward Euneshia Proctor hit the perimeter hard in her final B-CU home game, shooting 3 of 4 from three point range, several coming at pivotal moments in swinging momentum in B-CU's favor. Freshman Sharnese Neal again saw heavy action and put in two key second-chance shots off the glass, and leading the team with 7 rebounds.
The loss moves B-CU to an overall record of 14-12, and their conference record of 9-5 puts them in a third place tie with tonight's victor, Howard. The next two conference games will be crucial in determining B-CU's seed in the upcoming MEAC tournament, and their fate in any postseason hopes.
"We have our last two conference games on the road, and it's tough. We've got to go and we've got to play extremely hard on the road. We're playing against two very good teams; South Carolina State, who gave us a game here, and FAMU, who we have not beaten in some time," concluded Inge. "We've got to come out and play both of these games with a lot more energy and passion than we came out with tonight."
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