SAVANNAH, Ga. - Although the Bethune-Cookman Lady Wildcats (4-13, 1-4 MEAC) came storming back late in the second half against Savannah State (10-8, 3-1 MEAC), a pair of costly turnovers with under a minute to play resulted in six points for the Lady Tigers, paving the way for the 58-54 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) loss, Saturday night at Tiger Arena.
It was a tough, defensively-driven and low-scoring affair in the opening period, with nearly two minutes passing before SSU dropped in the game's first score. The Lady Tigers jumped out to a 7-0 advantage before center Kailyn Williams logged B-CU's first score.
B-CU adjusted its lineup to match SSU's four-guard set and began to find success on both ends of the court, but for each Lady Wildcats score, the Lady Tigers had an answer, and kept B-CU at an arm's length for most of the half. B-CU finished strong into the break, trimming the SSU lead to 20-14 to head to the locker room.
At halftime, the Lady Wildcats had only earned four field goals, and 11 turnovers were proving to be the difference, producing 11 SSU points.
The second half displayed a more offensive tone, as the Lady Tigers raced out to their largest lead, 12 points, with 14:17 on the clock. However, the Lady Wildcats chipped away at the deficit over the next six minutes, catching fire from long distance with solid perimeter shooting from guards Kendra Cooper and Chastity René Taylor, outscoring SSU 17-6 to slice the lead to only one point with 7:52 remaining.
The Lady Tigers rebuilt a lead, but B-CU remained focused in the fight, scoring on four consecutive possessions to pull back within three. On the ensuing SSU possession, Williams delivered a crucial block on Ezinne Kalu's runner, setting up Cooper's third long-ranger of the night on a Shakeyia Colyer assist, locking in the game's first tie at 52-52 with 1:45 to go.
Associate Head Coach James Howard assumed the helm as Standing Coach in Saturday's game, with Head Coach Vanessa Blair-Lewis absent for maternity reasons.
“We talked about gutting it up. The only thing we could do is get one stop at a time,” Howard said. “In those situations that you're down, you can't try to get it all back. You've got to go and play good defense. We got some good defensive stops and even got to the free throw line, and that gave us some momentum. With that momentum, we got back into the game.”
B-CU regained possession with the score still knotted and took a timeout after Taylor snagged the board off a miss with 39 seconds remaining. On the inbound, a foot on the line supplied Savannah State with the possession, which Kalu converted for a field goal and free throw. After another B-CU timeout, Kalu intercepted a high inbound pass, driving the court for an additional three-point play, completing a six-point SSU swing with just 10 seconds expired.
Although Williams hit a final shot for the Lady Wildcats, B-CU ran out of time, falling to SSU 58-54.
“We definitely did beat ourselves,” Howard said. “We did everything we had to do to get stops, but we had mental breakdowns and we have to execute those plays. We had a chance to go up, but instead we turned it over.”
Taylor led all B-CU scorers with 14 points, while Cooper was 3-for-4 from the perimeter and collected a career high of 11. Colyer and Taylor Houston each added 10 points apiece for only B-CU's second game with four players in double figures. Williams cut close to another double double, scoring nine with 11 rebounds.
For Savannah State, Kalu led the way with 17 points on 6-for-15 shooting.
The Lady Wildcats remain on the road this weekend, as they travel to Orangeburg, S.C. to face South Carolina State on Monday at 5:30 p.m.
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-B-CUathletics.com-
