Despite clutch shots by AU players down the stretch, the Eagles women’s basketball team lost the game in the final seconds 64-63 to the U.S. Military Academy on Jan. 25. This loss snapped AU’s five-game winning streak.
With seven-tenths of a second left in regulation, AU had possession of the ball. Senior guard Geleisa George got a good shot off, but the ball deflected out of the basket to give Army a 64-63 win over the Eagles.
“It was close, but it was just too bad we couldn’t come out on top,” head coach Megan Gebbia said.
AU (13-6, 6-2, PL) was in sole possession of second place before the match, but the loss to Army (14-5, 6-2, PL) puts AU and Army deadlocked for second place in the Patriot League.
George and sophomore forward Michelle Holmes notched three crucial layups in the last three minutes to keep AU within one point of Army. When Army missed its shot with 17 seconds left on the clock, junior guard Jen Dumiak picked up the offensive rebound to give AU the opportunity to secure the win. However, Dumiak missed her shot before the ball went out of bounds on Army, giving the Eagles one last shot.
“What I wanted to run was a special play that we run, but [Dumiak] couldn’t hear what I was saying and I really don’t like to call timeout because then [Army head coach Dave Magarity] can set up his defense,” Gebbia said. “It wasn’t a bad shot that she took, just in and out.”
The game was tight from beginning to end with neither AU nor Army being more than six points ahead of the other all throughout. The game featured seven ties and 13 lead changes.
Senior guard Alexis Dobbs, who leads AU with an average of 14.3 points per game, played all 40 minutes of the game but was only one-of-nine shooting from the field. She posted two points, making this game her lowest-scoring game of the season. A stark contrast from her last game performance when she notched 22 points against BU.
AU struggled with offense in the second half, shooting 38.5 percent in field goal attempts compared to 56 percent from the field in the first half. AU’s offensive problems only increased when junior forward Arron Zimmerman sat out much of the second half after limping off of the floor with over 15 minutes left in the game.
“Us having to play four guards for a period of time was not something that we practiced so I thought that kind of stalled our offense,” Gebbia said.
The Eagles were still able to put up 36 points in the paint. The bench, led by Holmes’s 11 points, added 24 points to the Eagles’ effort. Dumiak led all AU scorers with 14 points. George finished with 12 points.
AU will play the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis Jan. 29. Navy currently holds first place in the Patriot League and is undefeated in conference play.
