Seconds after the final buzzer sounds, the crowd is
still stunned. Autumn Davis (center) comforts teammate
Donita Adams, along with Tiffany Huffman (right.)
Story and Photos by Drew Moody
Down by one point; the Lady Pioneers have the last opportunity to score.
Two Glenville shots in the final seconds miss their mark.
BUZZER SOUNDS, Unbelievable! Game over.
Score 70-71. The defeat concludes the 2009-2010 regular season.
A mere sixteen seconds earlier it was a tie game.
The crowd is momentarily stunned.
Donita Adams falls to her knees sobbing, as Coach Bunky Harkleroad runs onto the court arms outstretched intending to lodge a complaint.
No one was there. Done. Turn the page.
The win earn West Virginia Wesleyan season championship
honors and gives the nod to honoring coach Steve Tierney
conference coach of the year.
The loss bumps their ranking down to fourth in the WVIAC.
The Final 84 Seconds Of The Game
Two Donita Adams foul shots tied the score at 70 with 1:24 remaining.
At the other end of the court Wesleyan misses the go-ahead shot, rebound to GSC.
Donita Adams pulls up for a shot inside the lane. She connected
for 22 on the night. And, WVIAC coaches voted her player of the
year. See Donita Adams Named WVIAC Player of the Year
Nerves were raw. The clock nears 1-minute as Donita Adams brings
the ball down the court motioning teammates to slow it down. A time-out interrupts play.
Time seems surreal. It seems as if someone hit the slow-motion button on a video remote.
Beth Deren (left) connects for two
near the foul line.
In-bounds to GSC following the time-out. A scoring opportunity is missed as the Lady Pioneers are caught holding the ball as the shot clock expires.
Wesleyan can take the lead. Under 23 seconds on the clock and their shot misses its target; GSC is whistled for a foul.
Connecting on one of two from the charity line, they led by one.
Overview Of Play - First Half
West Virginia Wesleyan had a height advantage. The Lady Pioneers were
statistical underdogs, but none-the-less very capable of pulling off a victory. A home court advantage has been known to create magic in the Jesse R. Lilly gym.
Glenville jumped out to an early lead as the Lady Bobcats found their tempo.
The first tie at 21 occurred with 12 minutes remaining in the half.
Miranda Reed struggles to get up after she and a Wesleyan player
become tangled resulting in a jump ball. Reed thought the player
took a 'wee-bit' too long to let her up, so she took matters into
her own hands. As she pushed backward, twisting her torso, the back
of her hand accidentally connected with her opponent's face.
A perfect example of the defensive swarm that has
so overwhelmed opponents offenses. Here, Kim
Stephens (2), and Miranda Reed force a turnover.
Wesleyan turned the tables, looking like they were going to run away
with the contest, leading by as much as eight points.
The Lady Pioneers were held scoreless for 2:29 minutes.
But by the last three minutes of the half they'd closed the gap to withing a point 34-35.
At the half the score stood 40-42, Lady Pioneers down by two.
Second Half Highlights
Early in the second half a Wesleyan player was driving to the basket
appearing from the other end of the court like she had an easy lay-in.
Autumn Davis picked up speed as she entered the lane from the opposite direction and "pulled off the slickest steal" I saw this year.
Davis emerged from the pack leading a fast-break down court.
Autumn Davis makes a perfect sideways pass between two
defenders during Saturday nights game. Despite an injury that
kept her from practicing Friday afternoon, she connected on 3 from
long range and had a near tide-turning steal in the second half.
Sarah Harvey and teammates regularly
terrorize their opponents offense.
Although she held her own, Wesleyan had Kristen
Golden outflanked with an overall height advantage.
She ended the game with 11 points and 7 rebounds.
Feisty Miranda Reed quickly got tired of a Wesleyan player essentially holding her down on the floor following a jump ball whistle. Taking matters into her own hands, she pushed the Lady
Bobcat backward as she twisted her torso to get free. In the process
she accidentally bopped the Lady Bobcat in the face with the back
of her hand.
Tiffany Huffman (right) makes a powerful
drive and shot as she challenges the lane area.
The game was physical both ways. Reed and Sarah Harvey led GSC's
defensive pressure terrorizing the Lady Bobcats offense and pushed
Wesleyan's turnover total to 29 for the game. By comparison GSC
at 13.
As the game passed the 15 minute mark Donita Adams notched a
big steal feeding off to Kim Stephens whose 3-pointer brought the
Lady Pioneers to within a pair.
Tie score at 50. Wesleyan regains followed by another tie at 57
with 10-minutes left.
The Lady Pioneers went on to fall off the pace by six, before
fighting back at the very end of the game.
Statistical Wrap Up - Looking Ahead
Donita Adams led the Lady Pioneer scoring with 22. Kristen
Golden added 11; Autumn Davis had 9 on the night.
Ginny Petties (left) fires a pass to the
corner. Coaches selected her as one of five
freshman making up the WVIAC All-Freshman team.
Adams and Golden nabbed 7 rebounds apiece.
The team's shooting percentage increased slightly from recent games with 27.6-percent from the floor and 25-percent from 3-point range.
The Lady Pioneers meet the Lady Battlers of Alderson-Broaddus
tonight (Monday, March 1) in first round WVIAC Tournament action.
Game time is 7:30 p.m. at the Jesse R. Lilly gym.
A-B has dropped nine of their last 10 games, but scored a big
six-point upset victory against Glenville State January 28. They're
ranked near the bottom of the 16 conference teams.
The Lady Pioneers with a 17-9, 15-7 record rank forth in the
WVIAC conference. West Virginia Wesleyan's win Saturday
gave them the season championship and top ranking. Seton
Hill is second; Charleston has the third spot.
If the Lady Pioneers are successful tonight their next game will be Wednesday at the Charleston Civics Center as the final eight teams continue the battle for the WVIAC Tournament Championship.
The men's team travels to Charleston Tuesday evening
for their WVIAC first round game.
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