Rust loses
two to LeMoyne-Owen
By CLAUDE VINSON
Sports Editor
The biggest
games of the year happen when the schedule of the Rust
teams links them to LeMoyne-Owen College of Memphis.
These games
over the years have never really been based on records
(Rust plays in Division III and LeMoyne-Owen in Division
II).
The games
have been a complete sellout for years because they
attract former students from both schools who flock to
town to see the contests.
The Lady
Magicians got this one off to a fast start. The Lady
Bearcats made five trips down the court and came up dry.
The Lady Magicians, in the meantime, had built a 10-zip
lead.
Latoya Brown
finally lit up the board on Rust’s side with one hit
from the charity stripe.
The Lady
Bearcats were being consistently beaten on the boards by
LeMoyne-Owen. And just when Rust’s sparkplug, Helen
Wright, put on a scoring spurt, the Lady Magicians’
Christal McClain started sticking treys from everywhere.
The Lady Bearcats were in the hole by 13 points after the
first 20 minutes.
The Lady
Bearcats used a pressure defense in the second half but
to no avail. The Lady Bearcats’ transition game was
practically non-existent. Plagued by turnovers usually
resulting from errant passes, they could not stop the
Lady Magicians who continued to push the ball even after
building a comfortable lead. They went on to win it
83-67.
The Lady
Bearcats were led by Wright with 20 points. Ladetra
Bridges and Tameria Jones aided her with 13 each.
The Lady
Magicians had four shooters in double figures, starting
with McClain with 15, Sabra Wimberly with 14, Ericca
Drake with 12 and Pamela Green with 10.
The Bearcats
found themselves in a real war even after establishing an
early lead against perennial foe LeMoyne-Owen. As soon as
the Magicians found the range, they wasted little time in
speeding past the Bearcats. But Rust was defending its
house and at one time went to an 11-point lead.
Then with
8:07 remaining in the first half the game was halted by
the officials because the really huge crowd had blocked
all exits and encroached on the baselines. It took game
officials and Campus Security almost 30 minutes to clear
the areas. When play resumed, the Bearcats again took the
lead and went into intermission with a thin two-point
margin at 50-48.
The lead
kept changing hands in the second half with the Magicians
battling back each time. When the pendulum swung the
other way, it was Rust who would find the opening to come
back.
The game was
tied at 75 for the last time and the Bearcats were
trailing by four with three minutes left. But the
Magicians would not relinquish the lead and went on to
the 103-96 victory.
The
Bearcats’ record was evened at 10-10. Rust’s
head coach, Rodney Stennis, had indicated before the game
that Rust would have to win all of their remaining games
(six) to get a shot at any post season action.
Larry Wells
fueled the Magicians’ machine with 30 points,
Desmond Maray had 24 and Kenny Bohanna had 21. Dewit
Gebrekidan led Rust’s shooters with 16. He was
followed by Lamont Keaton with 14 and Louis Turner with
12.
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