RALEIGH, N.C. – Thursday night marked the 35th time that William Peace University women's basketball has faced off against cross-town rival Meredith College. Through the first 34 matchups, their records deadlocked at 17 wins a piece.
In the early going, It looked as if the Avenging Angels would run away with the 35th, but after trailing the entire game and facing a 10 point, 59-49, deficit with three minutes to go, the Pacers roared back to tie the game at 60 with only six seconds left. WPU made the mistake of fouling Mckenzi Edwards though who went to the line and hit two free throws with only one second left to give Meredith College a 62-60 win.
With the loss, the Pacers fall to 1-12 overall and 1-7 in the USA South while the Avenging Angels improve their overall record to 6-8 and 4-4 in conference play.
Derrica Jones led the way for the Pacers with her 7th double-double of the year. She had 14 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Jones is currently tied as the second leading rebounder in the USA South at 9.4 a contest.
Zhana Gooden had 10 points, four rebounds, and a career high three steals. Brittany Boykin also scored 10 points, three rebounds, and tied her career high with four steals. Ka'la Jordan scored nine along with eight rebounds.
The Pacers struggled mightily shooting the ball in the early going. They went 3-31 from the field for an abysmally low 9% in the first half compared to an 11-28 (39%) shooting performance from Meredith. WPU kept themselves in the game though by hitting 14-19 from the charity stripe through the first twenty minutes of play and trailed at the break, 31-20.
The Avenging Angel's lead hovered around 10 points virtually the entire second half. The Pacers cut it to six with 11 minutes to play thanks to a Gooden three-pointer that she followed up with another basket, but Meredith stretched it back to 12 less than two minutes later.
Trailing by that same deficit, 59-47, Jones hit a jumper with three minutes left which marked the beginning of a 9-0 run concluded by a Ka'la Jordan layup off of a Lexus Simpson steal and assist to make it 59-56 with a minute left. After Edwards hit 1-2 from the free throw line for Meredith, The Avenging Angels sent Crystal Alston to the line for two free throws where she hit both of them to make it a 60-58 game.
Meredith had the ball and a chance to put it away, but Edwards drove the baseline and stepped out of bounds turning it over to the Pacers. After both teams called a timeout, the Pacers inbounded the ball to Jordan who fired a three that was blocked out of bounds by Meredith's Keyanka Bailey giving WPU a second chance at an inbounds play. This time, Simpson found Jones under the basket who tied it up at 60 with only six seconds left.
Edwards took the ensuing inbounds pass and drove the length of the court right into a Pacers double team. With her back to the basket, it looked as if time would expire and the game would head to overtime, but WPU sent her to the line instead where she drained two free throws for the 62-60 win.
The Pacers shot the ball much better in the second half going 13-31 (42%) but still only wound up at 26% for the game. Similarly to the first half, WPU got to the charity stripe 19 times and hit 12 of them to finish 26-38 (68%) for the game. WPU also got back into the game by turning up the defensive pressure with a full court press in the final few minutes. They ended up forcing Meredith into a season worst 26 turnovers which led to 19 Pacers points at the other end.
WPU women's basketball will be back in action at the Hermann Athletic Center on Saturday, Feburary 1 as they take on the Fighting Squirrels of Mary Baldwin at 2:00 p.m.
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