Prairie View Uses Strong Second Half to Defeat GWU, 65-58
November 27, 2010 | Women's Basketball
Norman, Oklahoma - Gardner-Webb saw a 16 point halftime lead disappear in the second half, as the Runnin' Bulldogs gave up 49 points to Prairie View in the final 20 minutes of play to fall to the Lady Panthers 65-58 in the first game of the BTI Invitational hosted by the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma.
In the first half, the Runnin' Bulldogs used a team effort on both ends of floor to run out to a 16 point lead at the halftime break.
Gardner-Webb scored the first basket of the game on a jumper from senior guard Dominique Hudson less than a minute into the game and didn't look back, holding on to a slight 12-11 lead with 11:35 to go in the first half.
With Dominique Hudson missing most of the first half with two fouls and Monique Hudson seeing limited minutes due to injury, Gardner-Webb's bench picked up the slack in the twins' absence particularly on the defensive end of the floor.
The Runnin' Bulldogs used a combination of zone and man defense in the first half to keep the Lady Panthers confused and off their offensive stride, as Gardner-Webb held Prairie View to only six made field goals in the first half.
In fact, GWU held the Lady Panthers without a made field goal from the floor for over a 10 minute span in the opening half, while 10 different Runnin' Bulldogs scored on the offensive end to push its lead to double digits at 32-16 heading into the halftime break.
Gardner-Webb only shot 37 percent from the floor in the first half, but connected on 11-of-12 free throw attempts, held the Lady Panthers to only 20.7 percent shooting and outrebounded Prairie View 29-13 to take the halftime lead.
Prairie View came out with a sense of urgency in the second half, outscoring GWU 14-7 over the first five minutes to cut the Gardner-Webb lead to single digits at 39-30 with 14:42 to go in the contest.
The Lady Panthers continued to fight its way back into the game, slowly cutting into the Gardner-Webb lead with mid-range jumpers and free throws to cut the Runnin' Bulldogs lead to 48-46 before a Monique Hudson three-pointer pushed the red team back in front by five at 51-46.
A three-point by Siarra Soliz of Prairie View put the Lady Panthers in front for the first time of the game at 53-51 with 2:55 to play in the game. A drive down the right baseline and layup by Latia Williams increased the Lady Panthers' lead to four at 55-51 with 2:25 to go in regulation and forcing a GWU timeout.
Gardner-Webb got a three-pointer from redshirt-freshman Kim McKenney with 16.8 seconds left to cut the Lady Panthers lead to three, however, down the stretch in the final minute of play, the Lady Panthers used an easy layup and knocked down its free throw chances to hold off GWU and pick up the 65-58 come from behind win.
The Runnin' Bulldogs allowed 49 points in the second half, as the Lady Panthers outscored Gardner-Webb 49-26 and over 40 percent from the floor in the final 20 minutes of play to erase a 16 point halftime deficit for the win.
Redshirt-senior center Sandra Vaitkute had a team-high 21 points and nine rebounds to lead the Runnin' Bulldogs, while Dominique Hudson had eight points and four assist.
Prairie View was led by Robin Jones 17 points, while Soliz had 16 points and was 3-of-4 from behind the three-point line for the game.
The loss is the Runnin' Bulldogs second straight of the season, after starting the year off at 2-0.
Gardner-Webb (2-2) will return to action tomorrow afternoon, as the Runnin' Bulldogs will take on the No. 10 nationally ranked Oklahoma Sooners at 2 p.m. central time at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma.
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| Box Score: Prairie View A& M 65, Gardner-Webb 58 |
