PORTSMOUTH – Women's basketball led by as many as 11 early in the second half and trailed by as many as 11 with just 2:11 to play in regulation. After watching their lead be completely erased, the Bears nearly wiped out their own 11 point deficit, only to watch the potential game-tying layup roll of the side of the iron as they fell to Marian University, 73-71, in non-conference action Saturday afternoon.
The Knights (7-2) second half comeback was fueled by Lakan Hasser-Smith, who scored all 22 of her team high points during the second half. Over the final 20 minutes, she went 8-of-10 from the field and 4-of-6 from distance, while also adding two free throws. No other player had more than five points in the second half for Marian, while Adrienne Sahm added 17 points for her team off the bench. For the second time in three games, Schera Sampson scored a career-high 24 points to pace the Bears (8-3) offense. Seventeen of those points came during the second half.
In the early going, both squads struggled to find the basket as Shawnee State took an 11-10 lead just nine minutes into the game on an Alannah Sheets' three. The Bears would not trail for any duration over the remaining time in the first half. After a pair of Alex Pohl free throws with 7:24 to play in the opening half, SSU would stretch its lead to five. That lead would eventually grow to eight following a pair of Allison Nagle free throws with 5:29 to play in the first.
Two more free throw attempts by Pohl, who went 7-of-8 from the line in the day, stretched the Shawnee State lead to 10, 31-21, the largest it would be in the first half at the 3:59 mark. The Knights would get the lead down to five with just over a minute to play, but four points by Erin Dailey – a jumper from the field and two free throws – in the final 72 seconds of the half would put the Bears up by nine at the break.
Shawnee State's game-high lead of 11 came in the opening moments of the second half when Nagle hit a layup on the first possession of the second half. However, Marian would cut over half that lead away over the next three minutes as it trailed by just five with 16:48 to play. The Bears would see their deficit cut to one at the three different points, spanning the 14:56 through 12:53 marks of the second half, but would not surrender the lead during that time.
When Marian scored to go up one, 48-47 with 12:34 remaining, the two sides would see the lead change hands seven times in two minutes time. Every time the Knights would take a lead during that time, Sampson was there to answer as she scored the only six SSU points during that back-and-fourth stretch.
A three by Sahm put the Knights up by two, 55-53, with 10:54 to play and that would jump start an 8-0 run to give the visitors a 61-54 lead with 9:26 to play. On the other hand, the Bears scored just two points, both single free throws attempts from the time they last led (11:16) until the time Marian stretched its lead to 11 (4:55) – a span of 6:21. Marian would hold that advantage again with 2:11 and the score 70-59.
Sheets would make 3-of-4 from the charity stripe on SSU's next two trips down the floor. After two consecutive defensive stops, Kara Long brought the game to within five, 70-65, with 1:02 to play as she drew the foul and converted the and-one on her layup attempt. The two teams would trade baskets on the next two trips down the floor. With 38 seconds to play, Nagle brought the Bears within four as she made 1-of-2 from the line. This came after four missed free throw attempts on Marian's offensive half.
Two more missed free throws after an intentional foul, followed by a Sampson three cut the Knights' lead to just one with 16 seconds to play. SSU was forced to foul and Marian would make the second of two from the line to go up two. The Bears had a chance to tie with the ball and 15 seconds to run their offense; however, a layup attempt by Sheets at the buzzer rolled the wrong way off the iron and Marian held on for the 73-71 win.
In addition to Sampson's 24, Sheets added 18 points. The Bears went 28-of-35 from the free throw line, while a 13-of-24 afternoon for Marian at the line nearly came back to cost them the victory. However, the visitors shot 62.5-percent from the field, including a 6-of-10 effort from three in the second half to build a big enough lead to overcome the Bears' late surge.
Women's basketball will be back in action next Saturday at home for the Shawnee State Tournament at 8 p.m. vs. Daemen College. The first game of that two-day tournament (Georgetown vs. Robert Morris) will tip at 6 p.m.
