JOHNSTOWN – The Lady Raiders led for nearly the entire game on Monday evening, but the Corning Lady Red Barons battled back and sent the non-conference tilt into overtime. FM then managed to go ahead by five, defeating the visitors 74-69.
It was definitely an off night for the Raiders, but it's often said that a good team can win even when they're having an off night. FM won the game and improved their impressive season record to 12-3.
Photo: Monae Abrams gives FM a 57-53 lead late in the second half
Guard Kassandra Flowers' field goal gave the Lady Raiders the first points of the game. Stephanie Rice then stole the ball, sprinted down the court, and fed Veronica Chea. Chea scored and was fouled. She sank the free throw, making it a three-point play. Monae Abrams also sank a free throw, and FM led 6-3.
The visitors started to find their scoring touch. They tied the game and after eight minutes of play took a 10-9 lead.
Flowers scored from beyond the arc. Rice fed Jessica Woney, who scored. FM led 14-10.
Photo, right: Jessica Woney
Abrams added a three-point play. Woney scored from the floor. Abrams sank two free throws, and FM's lead was 21-14. It was looking as if the Lady Raiders were taking control of the game.
Sherice Gayle and Katrina Garrett both sank a pair from the line, but the visitors were mounting a comeback. A Corning trey made it 29-27 FM. Abrams scored again from in close, and the teams went into the break with the Raiders ahead 31-27.
The second half began, and after just 23 seconds Stephanie Rice went down with an ankle injury. Rice has been one of the team's most talented and effective players. She had scored 23 points against Hudson Valley two days earlier, but now she had to be carried from the court and was not able to return to the Corning game. Her status is unknown at the time of this writing.
Corning scored two free throws, and FM scored three from the line. 34-31 FM.
Abrams added two more from the stripe. Woney took a pass from Flowers and scored. FM was ahead 38-31, but the Lady Red Barons were playing with a lot of energy. A Corning steal closed the score to 40-35.
With 9:36 left in the half, a Corning trey made it 42-39. FM's regular scorers were missing shots that they usually make. Meanwhile, the Barons were finding holes in the FM defense that allowed them to drive through the lane for layups and other close-in shots. The closing minutes became increasingly intense.
Flowers hit another trey, and FM led 49-41, but with 2:57 left the FM lead was down to four points, at 55-51.
FM turned the ball over. Corning hustled. 55-53. Abrams hit a key two-pointer, but Corning answered, and the score was 57-55. The Barons found an opening for another close-in shot, and with 43.1 seconds on the clock the game was tied at 57-all.
Soon two Red Barons' free throws put the visitors in front 59-57. FM had taken the lead and had owned the lead continuously from the 13th minute of the first half until the final 19.9 seconds of regulation time, but now the lead belonged to the hard-working squad from the Southern Tier.
Abrams was fouled. The senior forward went to the line and cooly sank both free throws. The game was tied 59-59 and was heading into overtime.
Two free throws gave the Barons the lead, but Flowers hit another big three-pointer. FM led 62-61. Then Corning was fouled and tied the score from the stripe. 62-all.
Photo: Kassandra Flowers sinks a huge three-pointer in overtime
Abrams added two more big field goals. The first was a 14' jumper. The second was a close-in shot after a great feed by Garrett. FM led 66-64.
The overtime period saw a lot of scoring. A Corning steal closed the score to 70-69 FM, but with little time left, Corning was forced to foul. FM's Woney continued her big night by sinking two FTs with just 7.5 seconds left. Abrams added two more from the line with 6.6 seconds on the clock, and the Lady Raiders won 74-69.
The win raised FM's season record to 12-3, but Head Coach Kevin Jones was quite disappointed with the team's defensive play. The squad will be working to improve their defense during the rest of the week. Their next outing will be on Saturday when they host SUNY Adirondack in a 1:00 p.m. conference matchup.
C.J. Bonny, website writer
FM: Chea 3, Garrett 6, Flowers 15, Woney 18, Abrams 26, Erica Redwood 2, Gayle 4; Total 74
Corning: Lehman 14, Cook 7, Whitney 7, Collins 5, Pike 26, Shoemaker 10; Total 69
