DANVILLE, Va. — Despite two players ending the night with double-doubles, the Averett University women's basketball team fell 81-79 to conference foe Greensboro College in the final 10 seconds of the game.
Freshman guard
Samm Chandler led all scorers with a career-high 30 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 10-for-15 from the floor and 4-for-5 from 3-point land, but Averett was still unable to edge Greensboro.
The game was close the entire way with each team only leading by as much as nine points in the second half. Averett (6-9, 4-5 USA South) rallied back from a seven-point deficit to knot the game at 73 when Chandler drilled a 3-pointer at the 2:12 mark. After trailing Greensboro for half of the second period, sophomore forward
Brianna Taylor gave the Cougars a one-point advantage scoring inside the paint on feed from freshman center
Jonna Koski with 58.4 seconds left to go. Koski dished out a career-best seven assists.
Unable to find an open man or good shot, Greensboro (11-4, 6-2 USA South) called a timeout with 47.4 on the clock. This time, the Pride found Alexis Hite open on the wing for a spot-up 3-pointer to put them ahead 78-76. Chandler answered at the other end draining a shot from behind the arc regaining their one-point lead. To the Cougars' dismay, Shanita Hampton quickly worked her way inside the paint to score a basket and draw a foul with 9.5 seconds on the clock. She sank the free throw to put Greensboro in front again at 81-79. She ended the game with 16 points and eight assists.
After letting time run off the clock and getting the ball just a few feet below the half-court line against Greensboro's full-court pressure, Averett called a timeout to draw up a play with 2.7 seconds remaining in regulation. Chandler ran off two screens to get the ball in her hands and dribbled up the right side of the lane to put up a shot but couldn't get it to fall.
Greensboro had three other players score double figures along with 40 bench points. Hite and Joslyn Spires finished with 15 points apiece while 6-foot-4 transfer senior Tiffani Stephens added 12 points to go with seven rebounds and three blocks.
Averett shot 47 percent from the field as Chandler notched her second consecutive double-double following a triple-double against Mary Baldwin College on Jan. 21. Chandler's scoring performance was only the ninth 30-plus game in program history.
Koski finished with 14 points and matched her career-high 11 rebounds to snag her fourth double-double of the season, and Taylor put up 16 points.
Averett heads to Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Saturday to take on Methodist University in a USA South conference matchup.
