Livingstone’s women aren’t No. 1 in the CIAA basketball standings, but they consider themselves the favorite against anybody they play.

So, when coach Andrew Mitchell’s Lady Bears snapped first-place North Carolina Central’s 16-game winning streak 65-63 in an overtime thriller at Trent Gym here Saturday night, Mitchell and his players insisted it wasn’t an upset.

“They picked us to finish first (in the CIAA preseason coaches’ poll). Central just happened to jump out,” said Mitchell. “So we don’t look at this as an upset. Had we been focused like this the whole year, we may be in first place.”

Central’s Lady Eagles still have the best overall (18-3), CIAA (10-1) and Western Division (7-1) records. Livingstone’s defending CIAA Tournament champions are 16-5, 8-4 and 3-3.

“It wasn’t an upset, because we’re supposed to win,” said Livingstone point guard Angela Thomas, who overcame a lot of adversity with injuries in the second half. “They’re going to be No. 1. I don’t believe there’s no way anybody can catch them, but we’re trying to finish second.”

Livingstone had lost badly to Central in Durham on Jan. 17.

“We just kind of wanted to remember the score, 94-69, the last time we played. We watched the film. We did a whole lot of things to beat ourselves. ... We just wanted to come in with a little better focus. The last time we went to Central, I think we went there thinking it was an automatic win. They came out to do what they did. They came to kill, and we came to play,” said Mitchell.

“The difference tonight was we focused a little more and worked a little harder on defense,” he added.

His team had to work especially hard after falling behind 48-42 with only 2:42 to go in regulation, but Livingstone battled back and eventually won in overtime.

Mitchell’s goal for the regular season is for his Livingstone team to move up to second place in the Western Division. Fayetteville State is second at 5-2, followed by Winston-Salem State at 4-3 and Livingstone at 3-3.

“All we have to do now is win the rest of ours and we’ll finish in second place, which is our goal, so we can get a bye for the first round,” he said.

Every starter played a big role in Livingstone’s amazing come-from-behind win, but the one that had to really gut it out was Thomas, who made two free throws with 6.5 seconds left to break a 63-all tie. Central was unable to get off a shot before the buzzer sounded.

Thomas, who still hasn’t recovered completely from spraining an ankle at Winston-Salem on Jan. 13, had to leave last night’s game often, first because she got kicked in the ribs and then several more times because of a bleeding cut on her nose.

“The first time (with 16:49 left in regulation), I got hit in the ribs and couldn’t breathe,” said the 5-foot-7 sophomore.

She re-entered the lineup at the 14:24 mark, then went out again at 13:25 when she collided with a Central player’s elbow and cut her nose.

Trainer Erik Zirkle put a butterfly bandage on Thomas’ nose and she was back on the floor by the 7:18 mark wearing a No. 42 jersey, because blood was on her regular No. 30.

“I have to put it all on the floor for the team,” said
Thomas.

“She comes with so much energy. She busted her nose going about 100 miles an hour down the lane running into people. She plays hard. She’s going to have some injuries. We’re just glad that she could stay healthy down the stretch,” said her coach.

After Amba Kongolo, a former member of the Zaire Olympic team, put the visitors ahead 48-42, Livingstone charged back. First, Erica Deas came through with a three-point play, then 6-5 Julie Tarrance put back her own missed shot, and it was 48-47.

Kongolo put the Eagles up 50-47, then Thomas made two free throws at the 24-second mark. Kongolo countered with two foul shots, and Central led 52-49 with eight seconds left.

That’s when Mitchell called timeout to set up his “five-second play,” which had his best long passer, Deas, making the inbounds pass.

“We run that play a lot. Normally, we try to go to Julie (Tarrance) and get Julie to pass it to one of our wings coming down. Julie had Kongolo on her, so we went with Robyn Wright, who had a smaller player. Robyn made a good catch, made a nice pass to Shonda (Evans) and Shonda made a big basket for us,” explained Mitchell.

Evans, who had missed her previous two 3-point tries, said, “I was a little nervous, because I missed two weeks of practice (with the flu). He (Mitchell) told me to set up and shoot. I had to say, ‘Just relax and just let it go,’ and that’s what I did.”

Her clutch shot tied it up with five seconds left, and Central stopped the clock at 4.7. Central’s Zakia VanHoose missed a desperation shot at the buzzer.

In overtime, Tarrance took over inside, scoring six points in the last three minutes, and Thomas finished it with her two free throws.

“It was big for us,” said Tarrance, who finished with 20 points, 16 rebounds and six blocked shot. “We felt like we needed this win to help us go on our road towards the tournament. Central was undefeated, so we had to try to give them one loss in our conference.”

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NOTES: Thomas, who went 8-for-8 at the foul line, scored 14 points, and Deas added 13. ... Wright led Livingstone in assists with five. ... Kongolo and Shenika Worthy paced the losers with 22 and 13 points, respectively. ... VanHoose had 10 rebounds.

N.C. CENTRAL (63) — Kongolo 22, Beatty 2, Fearrington 9, VanHoose 7, Stevenson, Foster, Worthy 13, Bailey 2, Shaw, Cole 3, Murdock 5.

LIVINGSTONE (65) — Deas 13, Evans 8, Tarrance 20, Thomas 14, Wright 2, Garrison, Baltimore, Jackson 2, Sanders 6, Marsh, Foye, Linder.

N.C. Central 28 24 11 — 63

Livingstone 31 21 13 — 65