Posted by
Toni Oliverio
-
Thu, Mar 20, 2008
- [
Women's Basketball
] - Viewed 157 times
Tigers make late run but fall short in upset bid.
JACKSON, Tenn. - Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) University, a No. 2 seed in the 28th Annual NAIA DI Women's Basketball National Championship, held off No. 7 seed Georgetown (Ky.) College 68-61 to advance to the second round.
Georgetown's Jayme Gilbert scored the game's first basket to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead. However, a basket from Cross and a three-pointer from Deathridge gave Freed-Hardeman (27-7) the lead for good at 5-2. The Lady Lions led by as many as nine points in the first half before settling for a 28-20 halftime lead.
Neither team could find the range from the field in the first half as both teams posted shooting percentages in the mid-30's. However, the Lady Lions were able to connect on 3-of-5 three pointers, while Georgetown went 0-of-9 from behind the arc.
In the second half, Freed-Haredeman immediately used a Cross basket to go up by double-figures. Freed-Hardeman stretched the lead out to their largest of the game at 15 points, 37-22, with 16:31 left to play. The Lady Lions kept a double digit lead for most of the second half, including leading by 15 points with 6:36 left to play.
Georgetown made one last rally attempt, trying to avoid elimination in the first round for the second straight season. The Tigers posted 15-6 run over the next four minutes to cut their deficit down to just six points, 58-52. FHU responded with a basket and held at least a six-point lead for the remainder of the game, before walking away with the 68-61 win.
Georgetown, who ended their season with a 23-10 record, was led by Gilbert with 18 points and Kim Ingle with 10 points.
Jana Cross and Tara Deathridge led FHU's Lady Lions with 23 and 17 points respectively, including a combined 22 points in the second half. No other Lady Lion posted over seven points.