Another rough fourth quarter for Edward Waters proved to be their undoing in a 61-53 SIAC road loss at Kentucky State on Monday evening at the Clive M. Beck Center on the campus of Translvania University.
The Lady Tigers (4-3, 0-2 SIAC) entered Monday's matchup shorthanded due to injuries to their top two scorers on the squad in starting shooting guard Tatum Hayes (avg. 17.3 ppg) and starting point guard Isis Smith (avg. 11.2 ppg). Despite the losses of those two key cogs to the EWU offensive machine, the Purple & Orange still had opportunities to notch victory in the final contest of their six-game road trip.
The first quarter was another another back-and-forth affair with both squads trading proverbial shots. Edward Waters led by as many as three points late in the first quarter before Kentucky State (2-2, 1-1 SIAC) responded with a run to take a 16-15 lead at the end of the quarter. In quarter #2, Kentucky State led by as many as four, but a jumper from Jourdan Avery, who got her first start of the young season, with :22 seconds left, cut the EWU halftime deficit to two at 33-31.
The Lady Breds came out of the locker room on fire with an 8-0 run over the first six minutes of the third quarter to stretch the lead out to 10 at 41-31 with 3:59 remaining. EWU was able to chop the deficit down to three at the end of the quarter, trailing 47-44 going into the fourth. The final quarter of the contest unfortunately saw Edward Waters run out of steam as they were outscored 14-9 to drop their second straight SIAC contest.
A cold shooting night and issues on the boards also were a major culprit in the Lady Tiger defeat. Edward Waters only shot 29.6% on the night on 16-54 shooting, including going just 22.2% from three point range. EWU was also outrebounded 47-34, including a 16-9 deficit in offensive rebounds.
EWU was able to put three players in double figures on the evening, led by Avery's 14 points on 5-of-13 shooting. Center Kyana Johnson turned in her best performance of the season with 12 points and eight rebounds, whle forward Khadija Smith finished with 11 points and four rebounds.
Edward Waters will return home for their SIAC home opener on Saturday afternoon, December 3rd against the Golden Bears of Miles College. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:00pm at the Adams-Jenkins Community Sports & Music Complex.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up