Lady Rams Survive Scare, Beat Lady Badgers

MOBILE, Ala—The University of Mobile women’s basketball team entered Tuesday's match up with visiting Spring Hill looking to improve their 6-2 conference mark against the 4-14 Lady Badgers. But, Spring Hill almost played the role of spoiler and upset the Lady Rams.

In the first half, Spring Hill got an offensive surge from Sharidan Hollis, who poured in 15 points and the Lady Badgers went on to hit 53% of their shots. The Lady Badgers used 7 early points from Hollis to take a 11-4 lead, but the Lady Rams fought back and trimmed it to 16-14 thanks to a 3-pointer from Danielle Goodly and a free throw from Lakeela Lowe.

From that point, the teams traded leads back-and-forth until Angel Parker converted a late 3-point play to give the Lady Badgers a 40-39 half time lead.

The Lady Rams hit only 41% from the field, but collected 8 steals and got 13 points from Goodly to keep it close despite the visitors shooting over 50%.

In the second half, the Lady Rams' defense clamped down to hold the Lady Badgers to 30% shooting from the field and Sherri McIntosh dominated inside to the tune of 9 points and 9 rebounds in the half.

Spring Hill kept their half time lead until 15:23 left on the clock, when Goodly knocked down a 3-pointer to give Mobile a 46-44 lead. Mobile went on a quick 10-5 run, capped by an Anna Maddox 3-point play to take a 7-point lead.

The Lady Badgers kept chipping away at that 7-point lead and finally succeeded with 5:42 left to play, when a 3-pointer from Andrea Hicks gave Spring Hill a 65-64 lead. Mobile shot back out to a 73-68 lead with just over a minute to play, but Spring Hill was not out of it.

After cutting the deficit to 73-70, the Lady Badgers got a turnover and appeared to tie it when Rashonda Belton hit a shot from deep, but the officials ruled it was only a deep 2-pointer and the Lady Rams held on for the victory.

Goodly finished with 18 points and 6 assists, McIntosh added 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Crystal Hutchinson chipped in 13 points and 8 boards off the bench. Mobile moves to 11-9, 7-2 and will next play Saturday at 2:00 at LSU-Shreveport.