CHARLESTON, South Carolina – South Carolina State's Bryeasha Blair connected on a short bank shot at the buzzer to lift the Lady Bulldogs to a 60-58 nonconference win over Charleston Southern Monday afternoon.
Junior Dashanique Peterson, in her first start of the season, had 17 points and tied two other teammates for rebounding honors with eight boards in the win. With time running out, the 6-3 Kingstree native grabbed a missed by teammate Kerry Watson and got the ball to Blair for the winning basket as time expired. It was the fifth offensive rebound of the game for Peterson.
New comers Kyesha Lewis – who also got her first start of the season -- and Kemoni Jenkins, both juniors, had 15 points each and eight rebounds apiece for Coach Doug Robertson's team, which improved to 3-4 on the season. Blair, who was in foul trouble most of the game, finished with just six points, including the winning basket.
The host Buccaneers, who dipped to 2-5 with the loss, were paced by Njeri Nelms and Shelby Wilbanks with 20 points each. Wilbanks, who was 10-10 from the free throw line, tied the game 58-58 on a layup with 9.7 seconds left.
After a Lady Bulldog timeout, Watson took the end bounds pass, drove to the basket and put up a shot that was off the mark, and in a fight for the loose ball, Peterson grabbed it and got it to Blair while going out of bounds.
Blair got off the winning shot, however, Robertson and his team had to survive a review of the shot by the officials before coming away with the win.
"It's a good win for our team," Robertson noted. "We had to battle hard all game and were able to come away victorious at the end. I applaud my players for fighting hard all game. We got big games from two players who were starting for the first time, Peterson and Lewis."
Charleston Sothern got off to a 7-3 start and led 16-9 after one. The Lady Bulldogs started the second half with a 12-4 run to grab their first lead, 21-20, on a put back by Peterson with 4:07 left in the half but the host led 29-27 at the break.
The Buccaneers outscored SC State 19-16 in the third period for a 48-43 lead after three quarters, but a 15-6 spree to begin the final stanza staked the Lady Bulldogs to a 58-54 when Lewis canned a 3-pointer and was fouled, however, she missed the opportunity from the line, leaving the SC State lead at four.
Wilbanks got two free throws 2:32 to play and the tying field goal with 9.7 seconds left to tie the game at 58-all before Blair's buzz beater that gave the Lady Bulldogs their third win, all coming on the road.
SC State committed 23 turnovers to 18 for the Buccaneers, but enjoyed a 48-42 advantage on the boards. The Lady Bulldogs made 37.5 percent (24-64) of their shots from the field to 30.8 (20-65) for Charleston Southern which had a 14-21 to 9-15 edge at the charity stripe.
SC State returns to action Saturday when it hosts Western Carolina in the first game of a doubleheader, beginning at 2 p.m.
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