(Dover, Del.) – In a battle from start to finish, the Delaware State women's basketball team (4-9, 0-2 MEAC) erased a 10-point halftime deficit to defeat the visiting NJIT Highlanders (4-15) in overtime, 75-72, to snap a season-long six-game losing streak.
For DSU, it was its first victory since defeating George Mason at home in overtime on Dec. 4, whereas NJIT dropped its third straight to move to 1-9 on the road this season.
In the first half, the Highlanders led by as many as 15 and took a 38-28 lead into the locker room at intermission. Offensively, NJIT shot 52 percent (16-of-31) from the field, including 20 points in the paint, led by Shakia Robinson's 12 points (6-of-7). As a team, the Highlanders out-rebounded DSU, 23-12, spearheaded by Robinson's eight to lead all players at the break.
Delaware State, on the other hand, was held to 38 percent (11-of-29) shooting with leading scorer Tierra Hawkins (22.5 ppg) totaling 10 points (4-of-11), two rebounds and two blocks to lead the Lady Hornets.
“We told our players during halftime this was going to be more of a defensive game, than an offensive game,” said head coach Tamika Louis. “Our main goal was to try to come out better defensively, considering how well their post players have been playing of late.”
Fortunately for Delaware State, it did just that to begin the second stanza, holding NJIT to just nine points in the first 12 minutes. On the other end, the Lady Hornets scored 17 points to tie the game at 47 after a Jade Washington layup with 7:59 left in regulation.
Less than a minute later, same score, DSU took its first lead of the night when guard/forward Deanna Harmon fed Hawkins in the paint for one of her game-high seven assists.
Over the next five minutes, the Lady Hornets pushed their lead to 62-54 at the 2:15 mark. With the game seemingly wrapped up, the Highlanders did not go down without a fight.
Down the stretch, DSU committed two turnovers and went 1-for-10 (.010) from the charity stripe, as the Highlanders cut the deficit to two with a Alyssa Albanese three with 10 seconds left, followed by a Martina Matejcikova layup with two seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
Despite the late-game collapse, Louis' main goal to her squad heading into overtime was to focus on the task at hand.
“The biggest thing was to just get them to calm down and realize what got them into this situation, which was the lack of focus that led to missed free throws and not playing hard to the very end.” said the second-year head coach. “So, in the next five minutes, we talked about picking it up and being intense all over again.”
To begin the overtime period, DSU scored five unanswered points, all coming from guard Raven Bankston to give her squad a 68-63 advantage with just under four minutes to play. However, NJIT answered and tied the game at 70 with another Albanese three at the 1:58 mark.
With under a minute to play, same score, Bankston continued her strong play in the extra minutes when she drove down the lane and finished with a layup to give DSU a two-point lead with just 32 seconds to play.
The next possession for NJIT, resulted in a Kim Tullis turnover, in which head coach Steve Lampher was none too happy about. Voicing his frustration to the officials during a timeout, Lampher was assessed with two technical fouls, resulting in an ejection from the game.
Consequently, Bankston hit three out of four free throws to give the Lady Hornets a 75-70 lead with 14 seconds to play.
Similar to the end of regulation, the Highlanders did not go away quietly as they forced a Bankston turnover, followed by an Uju Nwankwo deuce to make it a one possession game with six seconds left.
Next possession, Bankston turned the ball over again, this time resulting in a Tullis three point attempt. Luckily for the Lady Hornets, Tullis' shot did not go in as DSU held on for the thrilling overtime victory.
At game's end, three DSU players scored in double figures, led by Bankston's 26 points (8-of-17) with 19 coming in the second half. Bankston also went 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, to go along two assists, two rebounds and two steals. From the free throw line, the Detroit, Mich. native, set career-highs in free throws made (8) and attempted (12).
Hawkins, meanwhile, poured in 23 points (9-of-19), grabbed three rebounds and totaled a game-high two blocks, whereas Harmon finished with 11 points (5-of-13), eighth rebounds and a game-high four steals. Off the bench, forward Tylinn Carter turned in a solid all-around performance with a team-high nine rebounds, a game-high four steals, four points (2-of-4), one assist and one block.
For the game, the Lady Hornets shot 45 percent (29-of-64) and forced 24 turnovers, despite being out-rebounded, 41-35.
In the case of the Highlanders, Robinson finished a team-high 18 points (9-of-13) and 13 rebounds, while Matejcikova added 12 points (5-of-11), three rebounds, four assists and a team-high three steals. Tullis (3-of-4) and Albanese (4-of-9) both finished with 11 points, whereas Albanese dished out seven assists.
As a team, NJIT finished the game shooting 48 percent (28-of-59) from the floor, including 6-for-12 (.500) from long distance.
Coming up, the Lady Hornets will continue their three-game homestand this Saturday (2 p.m.) against the Hampton Pirates.
