Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Blue
Hose Comeback Attempt Falls Short; SAC Preseason Favorite
Wingate Wins 71-66
CLINTON,
S.C. – Wingate’s
Petra Nagy set a career high with 22 points, the last
three just beating the shot clock buzzer with less than a
minute to play to clinch the game as the Bulldogs defeated
home standing Presbyterian, 71-66, Wednesday at Ross E.
Templeton Center. Wingate,
the preseason favorite for the South Atlantic Conference
crown, improved to 8-6 and 2-0 in SAC play, while PC dropped
to 3-11, 1-1 in the league.
Down
by seven with four minutes left, Presbyterian went on a 7-1
run and cut the lead to 64-62 following a Cameron
Cook free throw with 2:22 to play.
Then after Wingate went up by four, Amy
Jones hit a follow layup with a minute left to again
cut the lead to two points.
The two teams then traded a pair of free throws with
Wingate taking possession with 43.5 seconds left.
With the shot clock winding down, Nagy drilled a wing
three pointer with 16.5 seconds left and the Bulldogs held on
for the victory.
Wingate’s
Veronica Taylor had a game-high 26 points (four off her
career high of 30) and was the only other Bulldog in double
figures. Cook
tied her season high with 21 points and pulled down 10
rebounds, while Rebecca Wessinger,
who was 11-of-14 from the line, poured in 19 for PC.
Neither
team could find its shooting touch early, with the Blue Hose
taking an early 5-2 lead after a Brittany
Carroll three pointer with two minutes gone in the
opening stanza. The three point lead would equal PC’s largest of the
opening period, with Wingate taking its first lead of the
game, 10-9, on a Taylor layup with just less than 12 minutes
to play.
After
a Cook free throw gave the Blue Hose a 16-15 lead, the
Bulldogs scored the game’s next five points, including an
old-fashioned three-point play on a layup and ensuing free
throw by Tanetra Barrett at the 7:02 mark to give
Wingate a 20-16 advantage.
PC’s offense would get into gear and outscored the
Bulldogs 11-4 down the stretch and equaled its largest lead at
the half, 27-24, scoring the last four points of the half.
Neither team could get on track in the opening 20
minutes as Wingate (10) and Presbyterian (14) combined for 24
turnovers and shot 36 and 35 percent, respectively, from the
field. The
opening half alone featured five ties and six lead changes.
PC
started strong in the second half and extended its run to 6-0
to take its largest lead of the game (29-24) with seconds gone
in the stanza. The
Blue Hose led 31-26 before Wingate went on a 6-0 run of its
own to take a 32-31 lead after a pair of Taylor layups, the
last with 16:40 left. PC
re-took the lead 37-34 on a pair of Campbell free throws but
the Bulldogs went on an 11-3 run to take a 45-40 advantage
after an Emily Paffrath layup.
Wingate extended the lead to 10 – its largest of the
game – after a Kate Edwards trifecta gave the
Bulldogs a 56-46 lead with 7:01 left to end a 23-9 Wingate run.
The
Blue Hose then started a streak of their own and quickly cut
the margin to five points on a pair of Wessinger free throws
just 30 seconds later; then after Wingate extended the lead
back to seven, Wessinger hit three free throws around an
offensve rebound to make it 60-56 Bulldogs with 4:23 to play.
Nagy nailed a three pointer 20 seconds later to give
Wingate a 63-56 lead and some breathing room, setting up the
wild final four minutes.
Wingate,
which shot just 36 percent from the field in the opening half,
made 64 percent of its tries in the final 20 minutes to finish
28-56 (50%) for the game. PC made 42 percent of its field goals after a 48 percent
second half and outrebounded Wingate 41-27.
But the Bulldogs harassed the Blue Hose into 22
turnovers on the evening.
Presyterian
travels to Carson-Newman Saturday for a 6 p.m. showdown.