Women's Basketball 3/2/2017 9:46:00 PM

Jackets Run Out of Time, Comeback Falls Short

Box Score
Even with their star senior post player in foul trouble against one of the taller teams in the conference and their shots all too often refusing to fall the sixth-seeded Yellow Jackets somehow managed to fight their way back into the game Thursday.

But in the end the WVSU fourth quarter rally ran out of time and third-seeded University of Virginia at Wise was able to hold on to a 72-70 victory in a quarterfinal game of the Mountain East Conference tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

"That just shows you the heart this team had," first-year WVSU Head Coach Charles Marshall said. "They had no quit in them."

Shafer, the squad's leading rebounder and second leading scorer, saw just 14 minutes of action due to foul trouble.

A good chunk of that came down the stretch when the Yellow Jackets went on a 12-4 run to pull to within one at 69-68 with 40 second to play.

WVSU trailed by as many as 13 points in the second half and nine entering the fourth quarter.

Then Shafer and the Yellow Jackets' other post player, junior Jasmine Davis, came back into the game with 6:04 to play and both having four fouls.

Back-to-back 3-pointers from Davis and senior Rachel Ward jump-started the Jackets rally.

Davis followed up with a 15-footer and another 3-pointer to keep the comeback going and Shafer added a free throw

Davis played only 28 minutes due to her own foul troubles.

"If those two are on the court it's a different game," said Marshall.

After hitting just 33 percent from the floor the first three quarters the Yellow Jackets hit 9-of-18 shots in the fourth period.

The Cavaliers hit two free throws with 19 seconds to play to make the score 71-68.

Damonique Patterson sank a short jumper in the lane off a pass from Ward to make it 71-70 with 3.6 seconds to play.

Each team then took a timeout and Wise in-bounded the ball from mid-court with the Yellow Jackets fouling immediately.

After the Cavaliers converted the second free throw WVSU, with no timeouts remaining, tried to go the length of the floor quickly but could not get off a final shot.

Outstanding efforts on the boards and defense kept the early deficit from being worse. The Jackets out-rebounded the taller Cavaliers 41-40 even with Shafer and Davis' foul issues and forced 20 turnovers.

Davis finished with 22 points and Aurreshea Hines added 15 points and seven assists for WVSU.

"She and Davis played extremely well and I saw them especially Davis, come into their own tonight," Marshall said. "She'll be a force to be reckoned with next season."

He wished this season, and game, could have been a little longer though.

"I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to coach this group this season," Marshall said. "They worked really hard all year."

Time just ran out on the Yellow Jackets.

"In spite of all the adversity we faced I really thought we still had a chance to win the tournament," Marshall said. "We needed a little more time."

Besides Davis and Hines WVSU also returns MEC Freshman of the Year Sydney Bates next season.

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Players Mentioned

#42 Aurreeshae Hines: G; 5' 6"; Junior

#00 Rachel Ward: G; 5' 4"; Senior

#20 Sydney Bates: G; 5' 9"; Freshman

#11 Jasmine Davis: F; 5' 11"; Junior

#14 Damonique Patterson: F; 5' 10"; Freshman

Players Mentioned

#42 Aurreeshae Hines
: 5' 6"; Junior
: G

#00 Rachel Ward
: 5' 4"; Senior
: G

#20 Sydney Bates
: 5' 9"; Freshman
: G

#11 Jasmine Davis
: 5' 11"; Junior
: F

#14 Damonique Patterson
: 5' 10"; Freshman
: F