MONTEVALLO, Ala. – The No. 3 ranked Lady Statesmen of Delta State University survived a furious second half comeback by the Lady Falcons of the University of Montevallo Wednesday at Banktrust Arena, holding on for a 60-55 victory.
Freshman forward
Jasmyne Sanders tied her career-high with 10 points, including four points in the final 1:52 to help seal the win.
The Lady Statesmen remain unbeaten at 11-0 and sweep the season series with UM 2-0, including a 66-59 win on Dec. 19 at Walter Sillers Coliseum. The Lady Falcons slipped to 7-3.
Down 18 at the start of the second half, Montevallo, who outscored the Lady Statesmen 32-19 in the second frame, started the half on a 12-2 run to claw back into the contest at 43-35 with 14:38 left to play.
The Lady Falcons kept the pressure on the Lady Statesmen, erasing the double-digit lead and taking a brief 51-50 lead on Amanda Scott's jumper with 6:42 to play.
Junior All-American
Bug Cooper claimed the lead once again for DSU, 52-51, at the 6:01 mark with a jumper from the right elbow.
DSU extended the lead to three on
Denesha Henderson's driving layup with 5:19 remaining on the clock.
After trading missed baskets on both ends of the floor, UM cut the DSU lead to one, 54-53, on Tiaren Young's layup with 4:40 left.
Both teams struggled from the field over the next four minutes, before
Jasmyne Sanders, a 5-foot-10 freshman forward from Brandon, collected her own miss off a blocked shot and banked it home for the 56-53 lead.
After forcing a turnover by UM's Young, DSU's
Moe Bell found a slashing Sanders headed to the basket for the 58-53 lead.
Sophomore forward
Veronica Walker iced the game with a pair of free throws with five seconds remaining for the 60-55 lead.
Walker, a 6-foot-1 power forward from Indianola, recorded her fourth double-double of the year and her second straight 13 point and 13 rebound effort versus Montevallo.
Sanders and Cooper also finished in double digits with 10 points each. Sanders connected on 4-of-6 shots from the field, while Cooper was 5-of-12 from the field.
Bell added nine points, while
Jessica Collins scored eight points off the bench.
Montevallo's Alicia Lewis led all scorers with 16 points. Carrie Parrott, Shan Jones and Young added nine points each.
Both teams shot 37.3 percent from the field for the game, but the game was certainly a tale of two halves. DSU connected on 45 percent (15-of-33) in the first half, but managed just 26.9 percent (7-of-26) in the second.
One key to the win for coach Sandra Rushing was her team's offense off UM turnovers. Delta State scored 18 point off 19 UM turnovers, including the bucket that helped nail down the win. DSU narrowly out-rebounded the Lady Falcons 36-35 and outscored UM 24-21 in the paint.
The Lady Statesmen exploded out of the gate Wednesday at BankTrust Arena, opening an 18 point first half lead 41-23 over the Lady Falcons of Montevallo at the break.
Delta State returns to action Jan. 9, 2010 in the Gulf South Conference opener at Ouachita Baptist University. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. at Bill Vining Arena. The game will be broadcast on the Statesmen Sports Network starting 15 minutes prior to the tip. Jimmy Smith, J.T. Webb and Alan Wiederhold will have the call.
