2008 Woodie Awards
Women's basketball chokes
By Randy Klins
Rocket Staff Writer
Issue date: 12/2/05 Section: Sports
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SRU jumped out to a 22-4 lead and stayed ahead by 10 points at halftime.
The Rock sputtered in the second half and in overtime as it was defeated by West Liberty State, 64-52, at Morrow Field House.
The Rock boasted a double-digit lead with 12:44 remaining in the second half before the Hilltoppers went on a 14-0 run to take a four-point lead, its first lead since the opening bucket of the game.
The Rock stayed within striking distance for the remainder of the period, just enough for Kristen Bonner to send the game into overtime with a fall-away jumper with less than one second on the clock.
West Liberty State's Leighann Fry scored six of the team's first nine points in overtime as the Hilltoppers outscored SRU 14-2 in the extra period to improve its record to 3-1. The Rock fell to 3-3 for the season.
SRU coach Laurel Heilman said she knew that it would be tough to maintain a big lead for most of the game.
"Even though we got that lead, I knew that we probably weren't going to be up 14-16 points the entire way," Heilman said. "You can't relax and be satisfied because a 10 point lead is not big enough. It's all about momentum and the momentum definitely changed."
The Rock didn't commit a turnover during its opening run, but had six in the remainder of the first half. SRU gave the ball away 11 times in the second half and overtime combined.
SRU held West Liberty State to 19 points in the first half as the Hilltoppers only shot 25
percent from field, with the Rock shooting 44 percent. However, the Hilltoppers heated up in the second half, shooting 47 percent while the Rock had trouble converting on several opportunities. The Hilltoppers shot only 4-for-22 from the three-point line.
"I'm split down the middle," Heilman said. "We did an amazing job on their shooters and that was one of the best three-point shooting teams we will ever see. But we've got a long way to go in terms of offensive execution."
