Shaw Closes Out Season With 76-70 Loss To Gannon

GLENVILLE, West Virginia -- Despite double-digit scoring from four players -- and double-doubles by two -- the Shaw University women's basketball team took a hard 76-70 loss to Gannon in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the Jesse R. Lilly Gymnasium on the campus of Glenville State College.

 

"It was the type of game we expected," said Shaw head coach Jacques Curtis.  "We knew they had a high quality team.  Our kids played hard, we got after them, but we came up a bit short."

The Bears were missing two key players -- Kaula Jacks and Ariel Hatcher -- because of injuries and were down to an eight-person roster.

"I think our girls stepped up and played well today because we were missing our second and third leading scorers," said Curtis.  "We knew we had our back to the wall, missing two ingredients, but they stepped up all year and did it today.  We just fell short."

Bryann Guyton, who had 14 points, added, "I saw my teammates stepping up.  We knew they were a great team and we got out on their shooters, but we fell short."

With the loss, Shaw finishes its season 21-9.  Gannon, now 28-3, will face the winner of the Edinboro-Charleston (WV) matchup Saturday.

Both Micah Brooks and Kamiya Burwell had 19 points for the Lady Bears in the loss.  Burwell coupled her points with 11 assists for a double-double, while teammate Verdine Warner had 11 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double of her own.

Jen Papich led the Lady Golden Knights with 15 points while Nettie Blake added 12.  A total of ten Gannon players -- two more than Shaw had on the floor -- scored.  Papich fell short of the double-double with nine rebounds.

Overall, Gannon outrebounded Shaw (42-38), outshot the Lady Bears (44.8 percent to 40.0), and hit a higher percentage from the free throw line (88.9 percent to 60.9 percent).

Shaw held an early lead, but Gannon found its footing in the last ten minutes of the first half and never looked back.

The two teams started slowly, with the Lady Bear zone defense appearing to bother Gannon, while Shaw hit only 33 percent of their early attempts.

At the 11:54 mark, Shaw held a 10-8 lead, with the Lady Golden Knights hitting only 23 percent of their shots.

By the next media time out (7:43), Gannon had taken a 16-13 lead and had improved their shooting percentage to 33 percent.

With 6:07 left in the first half, Kelley Sundberg hit a three that extended the Gannon lead to 21-17.  The Lady Bears got a single free throw, then Gannon ran off nine straight to extend their lead to 12 points, 30-18 before Guyton hit a pair of free throws to stop the scoring drought and cut the Gannon lead to 30-20.

The teams all but exchanged buckets the rest of the first half, with Guyton hitting a basket with three seconds left on the clock to send the two teams to the locker room with Gannon holding a 37-29 lead.
Down 12 with 14:44 left in the game, Shaw scored eight straight, including a long three from Burwell that started the run.  With 12:58 left, Guyton drove for a layup the cut the Lady Golden Knight lead to only four, 49-45.

The Lady Golden Knights scored 14 of the next 20 points to extend the lead back to double digits at 63-51 with 8:42 left.

The lead hovered at the eight-to-ten point mark for the next six minutes.  With 2:51 left, Micah Brooks hit a three to cut the Gannon lead to 73-66.  Burwell followed with a layup, trimming the lead to five with 1:37 left in the game.

The Lady Bears could get no closer, and Gannon extended their lead by one to close out the game with the 76-70 victory.
For Shaw, it is time to look ahead.  Guyton,  a sophomore, felt the loss might lead to bigger things next year.

"Falling short today definitely makes us hungrier for next year.  We just have to come out stronger.  We've seen what we have to correct and will work on that in the offseason.  We'll come out strong next year.

Audio | Video | Live stats || Box Score | Preview

COURTESY SHAW UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION