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Last Updated: Feb 18th, 2009 - 12:23:13 |
With four lead changes in the final 35 seconds alone, the game was a thrill to the very end.
But unfortunately for the home team, it was the visiting Feather River Golden Eagles that took the last lead, narrowly defeating the Lady Corsairs 71-70 Saturday in a Golden Valley Conference matchup.
”It's a tough loss--it definitely hurt,” said CR head coach Kara Newman. “We knew it was going to be a dog fight. For the most part we played a good game, but we just had a defensive breakdown at the end. Hopefully we can learn from it. I still think that we'll pull off an an upset though -- I'm looking forward to the last three games to see if we can get it done.”
CR was behind by one at the break, but came out on fire in the second half, starting with back-to-back treys from Shylo Wantt and Jessica Ammon. The shots spurred a 10-0 run for the Corsairs, however, Feather River would not go away quietly.
After playing catch-up with CR through most of the second period, the Eagles climbed back into the game and eventually took back the lead.
That's when things got exciting.
With 33 ticks remaining in regulation, the Corsairs trailed the Eagles 68-67, when CR's Amanda Malfatti got the feed from Angela Fitzhugh and drained a deuce that put the home team back on top.
On the Eagles' ensuing possession, Feather River's Shanice Martin inbounded the ball from underneath the basket to teammate Erica Haedrich for the easy bucket, however, Fitzhugh countered with a put-back shot to reclaim the lead with just 6.8 seconds on the clock.
It looked like the Corsairs had the game locked up and just needed one defensive stop to pull out the win, but the Eagles had other plans in mind.
In a tremendous show of speed and agility, Martin cut past her defender and dribbled through the entire CR defense, taking the ball coast-to-coast for the winning lay-up.
Despite the loss, the Corsairs had a strong showing and spread the ball around well throughout the contest. Four players scored in double-digits including Malfatti, who led the pack with 18 points, Wantt (12), Fitzhugh (12) and Ammon (17).
Though disappointed with the outcome, the CR boss was still pleased with Malfatti's play.
”Malfatti really had an incredible game and hit some big shots for us,” Newman said. “That's two great games back-to-back for her now.”
Malfatti and Ammon also played gritty defense all game long and came up with several key stops that kept the Corsairs in contention.
With the loss, CR fell 1-6 in conference and 6-17 overall, while Feather River improved to 1-5, 11-16. The Corsairs hit the road next Thursday to take on GVC rival Siskiyous (3-2, 15-9).
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