In a barnburner, the Union Spartan girls slipped by the Hobbton Wildcats 47-45 in a game that saw the lead change nine times in the last three minutes of regulation to end in a tie at 39 on a jump shot by Aneesha Dunn. Union ultimately won in overtime.
The Wildcats led the first three quarters, with the Spartans getting their game together early in the fourth quarter to pull ahead. The Wildcats had a 15-5 lead after the first frame. At the half, they led 22-14 and 27-22 after three quarters.
Union’s Shanyra Hope led all scorers with 25 points. LaTyra English had nine points and Breanna Blackmore chipped in four. For the Wildcats, Denise Lamb had 12 and Nina Devone and Alexis Bustamante had 10 apiece and Shalaya Bell had eight.
“First off, I would like to congratulate Coach Henry and his Lady Wildcats on a great game,” said Union coach Doug Burley. “He is doing a great job with the program over here. It was just another hard-fought battle between us. I think this is three years in a row that it has come down to the very last second. Down the stretch, we made it a lot tougher on ourselves than we had too. We just couldn’t in-bound the ball. I think there was three occasions and costly turnovers and then they make a great shot at the end.
Burley said his team “dug in and kept fighting” in overtime.
“It was a great win for us and I’m pleased to see some improvement after Tuesday night against Princeton, where we didn’t play very well. I thought our effort was there and if we keep playing the same way with the same effort and same intensity, we will be OK,” Burley stated. “We are going to enjoy this one now, but we have to come back focused and go to Princeton Monday to face a good Princeton team.”
“The effort was there tonight but our execution was not,” stated Hobbton coach Leonard Henry. We’ll see this team next week and we’ll go back to the drawing board and get ready for North Johnston Monday.”
