Lady Buffs lose on final shot
By Matt Hill
STAR STAFF
mhill@starhq.com
Abby Reed may have scored 34 points Saturday
night, but 32 of those points didn't seem to matter compared
to the two she netted at the end of the game.
Reed's last-second shot in overtime capped off
an amazing game, as Covenant defeated the Milligan College
Lady Buffaloes 74-73 at Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.
The shot came on an inbounds play in which Covenant
barely had time to get a shot off. But like she had so many
times during the contest, Reed came up with the big shot.
This one though, was like an answered prayer
for Reed.
"I definitely did say a prayer before that play,"
she said. "All I can remember is our senior point guard coming
around, and she said to me 'Abby I want you to make that shot.'
I went in there and Joanne Reitz passed it in to me, and I
just turned around and I shot it and I was like 'thank you
Lord Jesus.'"
This was Reed's second big game against Milligan
in a week. In last week's 93-69 victory over the Lady Buffs,
Reed scored 39.
"She's going to score," Milligan head coach Rich
Aubrey said. "When she puts her mind to it she's going to
score. The thing about it is you've got to execute on offense
so you can keep the pressure on her, and try to make her earn
everything she gets. You've got to play tough defense on everybody
else, so that those other people have to earn their points
as well.
With Reed already scoring 71 points against Milligan
in two games before the winning shot, Aubrey wasn't surprised
that Covenant put the ball into her hands at the end.
"That wasn't a surprise," Aubrey said. "I would
like to watch the tape, but I don't feel like we let her take
an easy one. I don't feel like it was an easy one. But I'm
not surprised she took it."
The only big surprise of the night might have
been the game going into overtime in the first place.
Milligan trailed 51-37 with 9:10 to go in regulation,
but a couple of baskets by Lacy York started the unbelievable
comeback by the Lady Buffs.
"Lacy made some big plays," Aubrey said. "She
did a good job defensively, and made a couple of big plays
defensively."
Milligan finally tied the game at 61-61 with
48 seconds to go after Amanda Hammons drew a foul and hit
both free-throws.
Hammons finished the evening with 22 points and
14 rebounds.
"Amanda's playing great right now," Aubrey said.
"She's been doing her job pretty consistently all year. She's
been putting up big numbers, and doing a lot of good things
for us on both ends. It's a shame we weren't able to take
advantage of the great game she had."
Milligan had a chance to win at the buzzer, but
Amanda Greene's desperation shot missed to force the overtime.
The lead went back and forth in the overtime,
but it looked like Hammons might have won the game for Milligan
after hitting the go-ahead basket despite being double teamed
to put the Lady Buffs up 73-72 with 13.7 seconds left.
On the next possession, it appeared like Reed
had thrown the ball to Milligan, but the basketball became
loose and a jump ball was called to give the possession to
Covenant.
That's when Reed stepped up and made the bucket,
but the senior was more than complimentary of Milligan's effort.
"Milligan hustled a lot," Reed said. "They got
a lot of good plays outside, they came out strong, and they
never gave up. I've got to give it to them for that. They're
definitely a hard working team."
Kari Stout added 15 to the Milligan cause. Greene
finished with nine points on the night.
It was a big improvement from last Saturday's
blowout loss to the Lady Scots, but Aubrey wasn't pleased
with just playing Covenant close.
"I won't argue that we improved," he said. "There's
no question that we played better than we did last Saturday.
But we can't be satisfied with that. We can't accept that
as a victory. We have to allow that to motivate us to get
better at the things that we're not doing as well right now."
The Lady Buffs fall to 6-9 overall and 3-4 in
Appalachian Athletic Conference play, while Covenant improves
to 7-8 overall and 3-6 in the AAC.
