Box Score by John Hackney
WILSON, N.C.-Junior Barton College guard Nyeshea Willie (Virginia Beach, Va.) drained a 3-pointer off the break with 14.9 seconds left Tuesday night to lift the Lady Bulldogs to a thrilling 72-69 basketball victory over visiting Chowan University.
The win left Barton 2-1 overall while Chowan exited at 1-4. Barton will travel to the Comfort Suites Classic to play USC Aiken at 4 p.m. Saturday and host Catawba College at 2 p.m. Sunday.
After a slow start, the Hawks gave Barton - the three-time defending Conference Carolinas champs and an NCAA Tournament participant last season - all it could handle. Chowan trailed 12-7 early, but rallied to tie the score at 15, 19 and 24 before taking the lead for the remainder of the half at 26-24 on a layup by Naima Harrington (Newport News, Va.). The Hawks held a 34-30 halftime cushion as Barton shot a meager 28.6 percent. The deficit could have been more if not for the hot shooting of junior BC guard Faith Hunter (Raleigh, N.C.), who canned a trio of treys.
The game featured a breakneck pace, with each team pushing the ball up the floor on nearly every possession. Chowan finished with 23 turnovers and 14 steals and Barton had 22 turnovers and 13 steals. Numerous layups were missed by players from each squad who were blitzing toward the hoop.
The second half included several huge runs. Chowan, led by junior wing Talaya Lynch (Hampton, Va.), went on a 14-4 run to start the last 20 minutes and amassed its largest lead at 48-34. With 14 minutes left, the Hawks had a 50-38 cushion. That's when Barton's full-court press ignited the Lady Bulldogs on a 15-0 run for a 53-50 edge at the 9:42 mark. Hunter nailed a jumper while falling across the lane and finished off the 3-point play and Willie swished a bomb from the left corner to end the run.
Chowan did not back down and countered with a 13-0 run for a 63-53 lead with 6:38 showing. Kiara Turner (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Ransheda Jennings (Suffolk, Va.) each had two buckets in the Chowan surge. A 3-pointer by Willie and two jumpers from Shante Neal (Spring Hope, N.C.) helped Barton bounce back within 63-60 in the next two minutes.
The Hawks held onto the lead until Barton senior guard Jannetta Robinson (Willard, N.C.) made a highly contested layup with 1:59 left to tie the score at 69 apiece. Chowan misfired on five layups on its next three possessions, the last by Jennings with 23 ticks left. Hunter corralled the rebound and raced past halfcourt, where she found Willie in the left corner off the break. Willie was on target, setting the Barton bench and some 100 fans into a frenzy. Chowan called timeout to set up the final play, which was designed for Lynch, but her 3-pointer was off the mark as the buzzer sounded.
Willie and Hunter combined to can eight 3-pointers for Barton. Willie had a game high 20 points and was 4-of-7 from downtown while Hunter hit 4-of-9 from downtown en route to 17 points. Junior point guard Elaine Morgan (Raleigh, N.C.) contributed 12 points and game-bests of seven steals and five assists. Neal was dominant in the paint with a career-high 17 rebounds and added eight points.
For the Hawks, Lynch led the way with 19 points, 16 rebounds and three assists. Jennings also fired in 19 points on 8-of-16 shooting. Chowan finished 27-of-69 from the floor for 39.1 percent and Barton was 28-of-76 for 36.8 percent. The Lady Bulldogs had a slight 52-48 rebounding advantage.
"We were prepared for a lot of things tonight, but not for them to shoot the threes like that," Chowan head coach Patrick Mashuda said of the Lady Bulldogs, who hit 8-of-16 from long range.
"We didn't shoot the ball very well and our defense is not very good right now," veteran Barton head coach Wendee Saintsing said. "The best thing I can say about the game is that we never gave up. We were down 12 to 14 points and kept fighting. We are showing that we are mentally tough and that we are never out of a game, so we're adding some character."
