Box Score
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. (January 22, 2011) — A physically taxing and emotionally charged game that featured 13 ties and five lead changes went to Elizabeth City State Saturday night at Manuel Rivero Hall.
Opening the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association's (CIAA) Northern Division schedule, the Lady Lions gave ECSU, a team favored to win the league, all it could, forcing overtime before falling, 66-60.
A bloody Sharay DuBose (Salisbury, Md./Parkside HS) led Lincoln with 22 points, giving her 998 for her career, but ECSU was able to take advantage of her absence in the extra session.
While Lincoln was missing its dominant scorer, the Lady Vikings (12-5, 5-2 CIAA, 1-0 North) called upon its leader, Kenyatta Gill, who did not play during regulation. Although she offered just three points, it was a big trey put LU behind, 63-59, with 2:25 to go.
The Lady Lions (1-13, 0-7 CIAA, 0-1 North) led briefly in the extra session. Sophomore center Mfon Ekanem (Springdale, Md./C.H Flowers HS) took a feed from Smallwood, to put the Lady Lions up, 58-57 a minute into overtime. Brittney Waters (Capitol Heights, Md./Charles H. Flowers) made one of two free throws, but Shaquella Johnson and Gill hit back-to-back 3s to finally decide the game.
In addition to DuBose's game-high 22 points, senior guard DeJuana Mosley (Chester, PA/Chester) posted 13 points and 17 rebounds, Lincoln's most on the year.
The beginning of the game was indicative of the entire contest with two evenly matched teams vied for control.
DuBose tied it at 17-17 on a free throw, and after a defensive stop, Danielle Smallwood (Philadelphia, PA/West Catholic) drilled a jumper to give LU the lead at 19-17 with 4:05 left in the opening period, the first time the team was up since a two-point advantage three minutes into the contest. The Lady Lions had been down as much as six, but lay-ups by Cynthia Johnson (Randallstown, MD/Baltimore Polytechnic Institute) and Waters brought LU within a single possession.
A lay-up by Shaquella Jackson deadlocked the game at 21-21, but Mosley made two free throws on the other end to restore order, enabling the Lady Lions to go into halftime up, 25-22.
In all, Lincoln was 26-for-37 from the foul line while ECSU was just 16-of-30.
LU led the opening two minutes of the second half before Shatara Jackson converted a transition opportunity, but Lincoln's Mosley responded with a clutch shot in the paint.
Midway through the half after an ECSU foul was called on an offensive end, Mosley went to the line and sunk both free throws tying the game for the eighth time at 37-37. ECSU's Harper answered with a tough basket over LU defenders.
The difference extended to the game's largest as ECSU enjoyed a 7-0 run with eight minutes left. The blue and orange got within one at 48-47 with 3:55 to go following two DuBose free throws.
Evened once more, ECSU's Johnson came up with the ball on a scramble under the offensive glass to put ECSU back up, 52-50 with 1:34 to go. DuBose then wrapped up a bloody left elbow on her shooting arm, attempting to will her team to its first CIAA win of the season.
But it was a senior that came up big. Sasha Evans (Hampton, VA/Phoebus) drilled two free throws to tie the game with 1:09 left.
But again it was Shaquella Johnson with the answer, hitting a pull-up with just inside a minute left to put ECSU back up a pair. Smallwood came down with the offensive rebound off a Mosley miss and banked it off the back-board to tie the game at 54-54, forcing overtime.
Up Next
Lincoln concludes its four-game homestand against the Hawks of Chowan University. The game tips off at 5:30 p.m. at Manuel Rivero Hall.
—LU—
