DAVIE, Fla.— The Barry University women’s basketball team put up a hard-fought battle, but lost 54-52 to Lynn University off a last second three-pointer by Kia Harvey in the championship game of the BlueCross BlueShield of Florida SSC Basketball tournament.
Down 51-52 with 0:07 left to play Lynn inbounded the ball under their own basket. Quanisha Dixon took the inbound pass, handed off to Harvey who sunk a baseline three for the win.
The Knights led 7-3 in the early going as Chelsea Patterson was hot out of the gate, hitting two jumpers and a three-pointer to put Lynn on top. The Bucs fought back, tying it at 7-7 with 14:41 remaining in the first after a Mariesa Greene layup and an Adrienne Hicks jumper.
Lynn again took a slim lead, but Barry tied it at 12-12 with 12:18 remaining in the first half when Tilde Ahlin drained a three-pointer. Less than a minute later, the Bucs took a 15-12 lead, this time off a Shana Suttington three-pointer.
Yet the Knights continued to give the Bucs problems as they led throughout the remainder of the first half. The Knights largest lead of the first half came with 1:29 remaining, when Patterson hit a three-pointer to send Lynn to halftime up 29-20.
Coming out of the break, Tara O’Malley hit a three-pointer to cut into the Lynn lead, but Patterson and Quanisha Dixon drained back-to-back threes followed by a Madeline Doyle layup to give the Knights their largest lead 37-23 to that point. Their largest lead of the game, 17, came minutes later when Doyle hit a six-footer in the lane.
Down 43-33, Greene single-handedly cut the lead to one, 43-42, by hitting three straight layups. On each of the possessions she was fouled, and sank each of her three free-throws. Shanna Suttington and Adrienne Hicks helped out stealing two Lynn inbound passes.
With 3:12 remaining, the Bucs regained the lead, 50-49, after Greene hit another layup, was fouled, and sank the free-throw. The next three minutes were relatively slow with the exception of a Lynn field goal.
With 0:30 seconds to play, Greene hit two free-throws to again put the Bucs on top 52-51. On the ensuing play, the Knights called a timeout before Harvey sank her game winner.
For the Buccaneers, Greene had 27 points to lead all scorers. Ahlin added nine in the loss.
The championship game will be broadcast on a tape-delay basis on Comcast Charter Sports Southeast and Bright House Sports Network. Visit the Sunshine State Conference for dates and times.
Barry now waits to see if they will qualify for the South Regional Tournament which will take place next weekend. Buccaneer fans can visit the NCAA website to watch the live selection show tonight at 9:00 pm.
Newspaper Box Score
Lynn vs Barry
03/07/10 3:40 p.m. at Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (University Center)
At Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. (University Center)
LYNN 54, BARRY 52
LYNN (19-10)
PATTERSON, Celsea 8-16 0-0 21; HARVEY, Kira 3-4 0-0 9; DIXON, Quanisha 3-8
0-0 7; SCHULTZ, Amanda 2-4 0-0 5; BASORE, Natalie 2-4 0-0 4; LEE, Marquis
2-7 0-0 4; DOYLE, Madeleine 2-9 0-2 4; DOLCI, Cara 0-1 0-0 0; YAPP, Cedrica
0-0 0-0 0; BAILEY, Tashina 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-53 0-2 54.
BARRY (21-9)
GREENE, Mariesa 10-16 7-9 27; AHLIN, Tilde 3-11 0-0 9; THOMPSON, Christina
2-5 0-0 6; HICKS, Adrienne 1-3 2-2 4; SUTTINGTON, Shanna 1-8 0-0 3;
O'MALLEY, Tara 1-3 0-0 3; LEWIS, Tasheema 0-1 0-0 0; TIJANI, Nadia 0-2 0-2
0; MULLINGS, Alicia 0-1 0-0 0; RIVERA, Anika 0-1 0-0 0; DUNCAN, Kisa 0-0 0-0
0; HOUSTON, Yvonne 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-52 9-13 52.
Lynn.......................... 29 25 - 54
Barry......................... 20 32 - 52
3-point goals--Lynn 10-21 (PATTERSON, Celsea 5-9; HARVEY, Kira 3-4; SCHULTZ,
Amanda 1-1; DIXON, Quanisha 1-5; DOLCI, Cara 0-1; LEE, Marquis 0-1), Barry
7-18 (AHLIN, Tilde 3-6; THOMPSON, Christina 2-4; SUTTINGTON, Shanna 1-4;
O'MALLEY, Tara 1-2; MULLINGS, Alicia 0-1; HICKS, Adrienne 0-1). Fouled
out--Lynn-None, Barry-None. Rebounds--Lynn 34 (BASORE, Natalie 9), Barry 34
(GREENE, Mariesa 9). Assists--Lynn 13 (HARVEY, Kira 6), Barry 14 (GREENE,
Mariesa 5). Total fouls--Lynn 14, Barry 9. Technical fouls--Lynn-None,
Barry-None. A-478
2010 BCBS SSC Tournament Championship