Bucknell Women's Basketball Gains First Win of Season, 54-48, Over Coppin State
Nov. 22, 2005
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Kesha Champion (Chesapeake, Va./Indian River) connected on a pair of free throws with 35 seconds remaining to give Bucknell the lead for good as the Bison picked up their first win of the season, 54-48, over Coppin State Tuesday night at Sojka Pavilion. Champion, who scored seven points and was 5 of 5 from the free throw line, also canned a pair of free throws with 4:38 remaining to give Bucknell a 46-44 lead and break the fifth tie of the game. With 1:04 left to play a free throw by Whitney Cunningham knotted the game again at 48-48 but Champion was sent to the line to shoot two and connected on both to give the Bison a 50-48 advantage. Shalamar Oakley couldn't connect on a layup to tie the game but the rebound was mishandled by Bucknell's Ashton Sprouse (Dayton, Ohio/Archbishop Alter). The resulting traveling violation by Sprouse gave the Eagles the chance to tie on an inbounds play with 18 seconds left. A stingy Bison defense forced a five-second call and Amanda Brown (Richardson, Texas/L.V. Berkner) connected on a pair of free throws to secure the game for Bucknell. Lindsey Hollobaugh, who posted a game-high 21 points, added two free throws in the final seconds to give the Bison their final six-point spread. Bucknell jumped out to a 13-6 lead early in the first half as Hollobaugh netted seven of her points in the first five minutes of play. However, following a Hope Foster (Washington, D.C./Dunbar) layup with 14:27 to play in the first half, the Bison failed to connect on a field goal for nearly 12 minutes until Jacquie Seawright (Olton, Texas/Olton) made a short jumper from the left wing to narrow the deficit to 19-18 and halt the Coppin State run at 13-3. The only Bucknell points during that stretch were three free throws by Corrine Keller (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena).
Seawright, who tallied four points and five rebounds in just 10 minutes of action off the bench, led the Bucknell charge into halftime as she scored two of her points and dished out two assists in the final minutes of the first half. The Bison went into the locker room facing a 25-24 deficit. Coppin State (0-2) extended its lead out to five points on two occasions in the first five minutes of the second half, but Bucknell used an 8-3 run keyed by five points from Hollobaugh to tie the game at 32 with just under 13 minutes to play. The Bison would trail just three more times in the contest with Coppin State's largest lead the rest of the way being 43-41 after a layup by Tanezia Harden. Hope Foster, who connected on a jumper from just inside the top of the key to give Bucknell a 48-47 advantage, was Bucknell's highest scorer next to Hollobaugh with eight points. She also hauled in eight rebounds, all on the defensive end of the floor. Sherrie Tucker, the 2005 MEAC Player of the Year, was held to 11 points, but still led the Eagles in scoring. She averaged more than 15 points per game last year and has scored just 20 points total in the last two years against the Bison. Despite Foster's eight rebounds, Bucknell was outrebounded by a 43-31 margin. The Bison, who struggled from the field making only 14 of 46 shots, excelled at the free throw line, knocking them down at an 80.0 percent clip (24-30). The Eagles, who made 18 of 54 from the field, shot just 11 of 18 from the charity stripe. Bucknell, which improved to 1-2 with the victory, continues its three-game homestand Saturday at 4 p.m. against Siena. The game is the first game of a doubleheader with the men's game against Yale to follow at 7 p.m. |
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