Shreveport– The Centenary women's basketball team saved its best for last as the Ladies defeated the St. Thomas Celts 70-69 in overtime on Saturday afternoon in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference game making the postgame Senior Day celebration even sweeter at the Gold Dome.
The Ladies (1-9) rebounded from a disappointing 57-55 loss on Friday and won for the second-straight season on Senior Day. The Celts dropped to 4-4 with the loss.
Sophomore forward Jazzmyn Jones (Normangee, Texas) tied the game at 59-59 with a shot off the glass with .006 on the clock to send the game to overtime after a back and forth final quarter of play. The game was tied for the first two and a half minutes of the quarter before the Celts took a 46-40 lead at the 5:52 mark but the Ladies stormed back and took the lead by one, 47-46, on a jumper by senior guard Alex Williams (Shreveport) with 3:52 remaining.
There were to more lead changes and a tie over the next three minutes until the Celts took a 58-53 lead with just 41 seconds remaining. Jones went 1-2 at the free-throw line seven seconds later and after a pair of missed free throws by the Celts, Mayberry picked up a steal and Centenary called a timeout with 28 seconds left. Freshman guard Addy Tremie (Sulphur, La.) then nailed a clutch three pointer out of the timeout to make it 58-57. The Celts' Emily Edwards then made 1-2 free throws for a 59-57 lead before Jones tied the game
Centenary, for the second-straight day, led at halftime as the Ladies took a 25-21 advantage to the locker room. The Ladies' bench contributed 18 of their 25 first-half points led by seven from sophomore forward Amelia Bagwell (West Monroe, La.). The Celts outscored the Ladies, 17-11, in the third period to take a 38-36 lead into the final 10 minutes, setting up an exciting final period.
Tremie and Jones each scored 17 points to lead the Ladies while senior guard Jennae Mayberry (Clovis, Calif.) added 11 with nine rebounds in 43 minutes. Senior Tacoya Allen (Killeen, Texas) scored eight points in 32 minutes on her Senior Day and added two rebounds. Williams scored six, had for rebounds, three assists, and a block. Jones grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds and had three blocks.
Jones scored the first three points of overtime to give the Ladies a 62-59 lead. A jumper by Jade Evans gave the Celts a 63-62 lead with 3:00 remaining and the score remained that way until Williams sank a pair of free throws with 2:02 remaining for a 64-63 lead.
The Ladies shot 40.6 % from the floor for the game including 43.8 % in the second half. Centenary made 5-12 shots in the third quarter and went an impressive 9-20 (45 %) in the fourth quarter. St. Thomas shot 34.7 % from the floor for the game and was led by Edwards' 17 points. Eneily Rodriguez scored 13, Zariah McInnis added 12 and Micayla Hamilton had 10. Evans grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds. The Ladies outrebounded the Celts, 51-48 and forced 17 turnovers.
"I couldn't be prouder of how these Ladies dealt with an enormous amount of adversity this season." Said head coach Jason Schmitz. "From being unsure to whether or not we would actually have a season to weekly COVID tests, these young women continued to push through."
"I'm incredibly happy we were able to send the seniors out with a win and that their families could watch them one last time."
#GoCentenary #CTheOpportunity
