Catawba College’s 77-71 South Atlantic Conference women’s basketball loss to Presbyterian Wednesday night in Goodman Gym could mean a lot of negative things.
An 18-game home winning streak ended. The 13-4 Indians could possibly drop out of the South Region’s top four.
At 4-2 in the league, the defending SACchampions are now two games behind leader Mars Hill.
So why was John Duncan smiling afterward?
Because Duncan is a coach and all a coach can ask for is effort.
“I give us an A for effort,” the Catawba leader said. “Execution? I don’t know what grade to give that.”
While Presbyterian played flawlessly until the final minutes, Duncan spent most of his time on the sidelines, arms folded, head shaking.
Youth and inexperience played a huge part in this game and he knew it. The Indians, boasting one senior but 11 freshmen and sophomores, had too many turnovers (27), too many missed layups, too many rebounds slipping through their fingers .... you know, arm-folding, head-shaking stuff.
And despite it all, Catawba still had a chance at the end.
The verdict looked decided with 3:35 remaining and Presbyterian up 72-61. But one thing about youth. It may depress you at times but it can also thrill you with its overabundance of resiliency.
In this case, it was a very quick 10-0 spurt that actually had Catawba within 72-71 with 38 seconds left on a Dorthell Little bucket.
Presbyterian, coming off an uncharacteristic three-game losing skid, didn’t help its own cause with three straight turnovers.
Lynn Morancie fed Danyel Locklear for a basket. Ella Pasola drilled a 3-pointer and two free throws. When Ice Darden hit a free throw, it was suddenly 72-69, setting up Little’s basket.
The Indians’ last chance was Pasola’s 3 with her team down 74-71 and 18 ticks left. It caromed off the rim and Presbyterian escaped by making 5-of-6 free throws.
“They didn’t want to lose four straight and came in here wanting to prove something,” Duncan said.
Now, Catawba has to prove something, starting Saturday at home against Carson Newman.
“We’d like to win the conference championship but we need help from a friend,” Duncan said.
“But I told the team, we’re playing for seeding and ranking. And strange things can happen. The team that wins the thing might have two or three losses. So don’t look too far ahead — and don’t look behind.”
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NOTES: Little missed only three of her 13 shots and finished as the game’s leading scorer with 23. With 15 rebounds, she recorded her third straight double-double. ... Locklear and Darden scored 10 each. ... Ashley Cox, coming off a sprained knee, had seven assists. ... Locklear went over the 500-point mark for her career (508). Little has 489. ... The loss was only the 40th in Duncan’s sterling Catawba career against 128 wins. ... Saturday’s game starts at 2 p.m.
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Contact Ronnie Gallagher at 704-797-4287 or rgallagher@salisburypost.com
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