Women's Basketball's Comeback Bid Falls Short at Livingstone
Box Score Salisbury, N.C. (Jan. 24, 2015) – Livingstone's women's basketball team was able to survive a late-game comeback bid by Johnson C. Smith to take a 78-74 CIAA win on Saturday afternoon at Trent Gym.
The Golden Bulls, down by as many as eight points in the second half, started to trim the Livingstone lead when
Ashley Porter (Winston-Salem, N.C.) made a free throw at the 13:24 mark.
Shanequa Phifer (Salisbury, N.C.) and
Larryqua Hall (Atlanta, Ga.) would each hit a free throw, cutting the Blue Bear lead to 55-50 with 12:44 to play.
LaKendra Wilkerson (Greensboro, N.C.) was able to nail two free throws to trim the lead to three at 55-52 with 12:10 remaining. An
Anika Jones (Shelby, N.C.) layup brought the gap to two at 56-54 with 12:00 to play.
Livingstone was able to boost the lead to eight points once again following a Precious Roberts jumper with 10:42 to play for the 62-54 Livingstone lead. Jones would hit two straight layups for JCSU to once again trim the lead to four at 64-60 with 9:38 to play.
JCSU was able to tie the game for the sixth time of the afternoon at 68-68 after a three-pointer from Jones. Livingstone would jump up by five points at 73-68 after two free throws from Cierra York, but JCSU's Phifer nailed her fifth three-pointer of the game to draw the Golden Bulls to within 71-68 with 4:38 remaining.
The Livingstone lead was shaved to two points (75-73) with 55 seconds remaining after a Wilkerson jumper, but the Blue Bears' Amber Curtis was able to get to the foul line and converted two free throws to extend the lead to 77-73 with 15 seconds to play. JCSU's Wilkerson then drove to the basket and was fouled. She hit one free throw to make it 77-74 with 11 seconds left by Livingstone's Alexis Fowler was also able to draw a foul, then hit the subsequent free throw with seven seconds left to preserve the 78-74 win.
JCSU got 20 points from
Shanequa Phifer. Phifer hit five three-pointers on the afternoon for JCSU. The Golden Bulls also got 16 points from
Anika Jones and 10 points from
Ashley Porter.
Livingstone was led by Amber Curtis' 23 points. Precious Roberts also had 22 points for the Blue Bears, who remained undefeated at 18-0, 9-0 in CIAA play.
JCSU lost their second straight game, and drop to 15-4, 5-3 in CIAA play. The Golden Bulls will host Winston-Salem State on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 5:30 p.m.
