Jan. 25, 2010

Final Stats

Call WBB Contact Michael Stambaugh for more details - 386.481.2278 -

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Lady Wildcats of Bethune-Cookman Women's Basketball continued their first MEAC road weekend, Monday evening, at Howard University. B-CU faced a knock-down battle with the Lady Bison, as the lead changed hands nine times before the Lady Wildcats grabbed the final advantage with just over one minute remaining and held Howard off to preserve the win, 48-47.

In tonight's low-scoring affair, fans witnessed a defensive shootout, with each team committing a significant amount of turnovers and both collecting their share of steals. However, B-CU made the most of their picks, scoring 22 points off turnovers, as compared with only 3 by Howard.

The Lady Wildcats stayed calm and collected as a team when they faced minor deficits in the game, always producing an answer to climb right back into striking range. Howard made the game's largest lead, of five points, with just under four minutes left in the first half, however, the Lady Wildcats made key shots to narrow it to just a pair going into the locker room.

"I thought that we started the game defensively where we wanted to be," noted Head Coach Vanessa Inge. "It was a very low-scoring game, but offensively we turned the ball over way too much in the first half, which gave us fewer opportunities to score. Some of the opportunities that we did have to score, we missed easy buckets."

In the second half, Howard kept B-CU at a slight distance, holding the lead for roughly eighteen minutes in the half. Despite the fact that B-CU only claimed a second half lead just twice, they made the right moves to take charge when the game was on the line. The Lady Wildcats responded to a late Lady Bison lead with two consecutive scores off steals, including the clincher, a crucial paint jumper by Euneshia Proctor, which the Lady Bison made anything but an easy shot with just over a minute remaining. Fresh in the lead, Demetria Frank made a great steal to give control to B-CU in the final outcome of the game. While B-CU ran the clock, the Lady Wildcats missed a very tough jumper and gave the ball back to Howard with 30 seconds left. B-CU's defense stood strong and denied the Lady Bison from scoring twice more.

B-CU gained control of the ball with :1.5 left, forcing a Howard foul that would end the game. Despite the missed free throw, there was no time to flash the ball down court, and B-CU clinched the one-point victory, winning 48-47.

"Going in at halftime was just about refocusing and getting ourselves together so that we don’t turn the ball over," said Inge, "but more importantly that we continue to get the defensive stops."

Howard's Zykia Brown earned a game-high 20 points, carrying the Lady Bison in the first half with 15 points in the opening period, but the Lady Wildcats were able to shut down her attack in the second half, only allowing 5 more on the tally, including blocking her final shot to regain possession of the ball with only seconds remaining. Sadie Doyle proved to be a force inside in tonight's game, notching a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds.

Jalisa Isaac fired in 13 points to lead B-CU in scoring for the night, while also snagging six rebounds. Her early perimeter shooting gave B-CU a needed spark in the first half. Euneshia Proctor scored 12 of her own, including the contested jumper that proved to be the final points of the game, in addition to her six rebounds, and getting after it defensively with 3 steals. Demetria Frank grabbed 3 steals of her own, while also leading the team with 7 boards.

Conference road wins have been elusive in recent years for the Lady Wildcats, with only four in the last four seasons, including tonight, with three of those earned by Inge-coached squads in her two seasons at B-CU.

"Anytime that you can win on the road, it’s a good win," elaborated Coach Inge, "but to bounce back from such a devastating loss that we endured at Hampton, it was huge for these young ladies. They’re still young, they’re still developing, and still growing, and that kind of loss could turn one into two into three before we get ourselves back together. I was glad that we came out and showed resiliency, even though we shot poorly, we were able to hang in there defensively and all we needed was one point. It was a big basket at the end by [Euneshia Proctor] and that was the last basket of the game."

The Lady Wildcats, now 8-10 and 4-3 in MEAC play, are hungry for another conference win, returning home this upcoming weekend to host the Lady Bulldogs of South Carolina State. That game is 2 pm, Saturday, January 30, at Richard V. Moore Gymnasium.

###