JOURNAL SPORTS
It was almost as unusual as a winter storm hitting town.
The struggling Centenary women’s basketball team ended an eight-game skid and edged the Concordia Tornados 63-62 on Friday in a Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference contest inside the Gold Dome.
Game time was moved to a late afternoon start for the doubleheader, with a men’s game following, to aid Concordia’s travel home with the storm approaching.
The Gents almost completed a sweep but bowed 82-77 in the nightcap, nearly upsetting the league-leaders. A Saturday home doubleheader against Texas Lutheran was postponed and will be rescheduled.
The Ladies (3-13, 2-5 SCAC) won their first home game under new coach Rennie Bailey by defeating the Tornados (5-11, 2-5 SCAC).
Centenary senior guard Amiyah Barrow led all scorers with a season-high 20 points as she played 34 minutes and finished 8-10 from the floor, 2-2 from beyond the arc, and 2-2 at the FT line. She scored in double figures for the eighth time this season and for the fifth time in seven games.
Concordia led 60-56 with 3:06 remaining. Following a Centenary timeout, Barrow continued her hot shooting as she connected on a jumper at the 2:30 mark to make it 60-58 and tied the game at 60-60 on another basket just 21 seconds later. The visitors scored with 2:06 remaining for a 62-60 lead, but did not score again.
Centenary’s Julissa Cabrera hit a free throw with 1:15 left to make it 62-61, then stole the ball and made a layup with only 44 seconds remaining to give the Ladies a 63-62 lead.
The final seconds were frantic for both teams as Concordia got two offensive rebounds but could not hit any of their last three shots as the Ladies escaped with the thrilling victory.
Junior forward Natalya Senat had the best game of her Centenary career with an impressive double-double that featured career highs in both points (10) and rebounds (14). Cabrera added 10 points.
In the men’s game, Dontarius Coleman scored 25 and Quentin Beverly 22 for the Gents, who nearly overcame several 14-point second-half deficits, getting within three points with 24 seconds left.
Concordia survived and moved to 14-2 overall and 7-0 in the conference. Centenary dipped to 4-12 overall, 2-5 in the SCAC.
LSUS IDLE, BPCC POSTPONED: The LSU Shreveport basketball teams, both leading the Red River Athletic Conference, had an open date Saturday. The Bossier Parish Community College men had their game at Coastal Bend Saturday postponed by travel concerns.
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