Jan. 31, 2011

Final Stats

FAYETTEVILLE, NC - Still not 100 percent from a past ACL injury, Capricia Smalls sometimes needs a little time to get loosened up.

And when she missed everything on a first-half 3-point attempt, Fayetteville State head coach Eva Patterson-Heath took her out of the game and told Smalls to hit the exercise bike.

Smalls (Fr., McLeansville, NC) returned to score 12 of her career-high 14 points and made 4 of 5 field goal attempts - including two 3-pointers - to help spark the Lady Broncos to a 69-67 come-from-behind victory on Monday night at Felton J. Capel Arena.

The Lady Broncos (6-13, 4-6, 1-2) trailed by as much as seven points in the second half before Smalls buried two 3s and scored nine points in a critical 16-4 run a span of 2:27 to hand Fayetteville State a 65-56 lead with 5:01 remaining in the game.

"She gave a us a huge lift," Patterson-Heath said of Smalls.

So did LaQuasha Jordan (Jr., Greenville, NC), whose team-high 20 points marked the fourth time in her last seven games she has reached scored at least 20 points. Jordan hit four 3-pointers in the game, including one from 27 feet to tie the game at 49 as the Lady Broncos began to recover from their early second-half deficit. Jordan added five rebounds and four assists.

Fayetteville State struggled finding its rhythm early in the game, and despite taking a lead late in the first half, gave up five straight points in the final seconds to trail 31-26 at the break. FSU shot just 26 percent from the field in the first half.

But the Lady Broncos, who went to a smaller lineup while missing the CIAA's leading rebounder, Tiffany Haywood (Sr., Fayetteville, NC), were patient and poised in the second half. They shot 47 percent from the field and had just five turnovers in the period.

Still, Shaw came back in the last 5 minutes. The Lady Bears (12-9, 5-5, 1-2), who were playing without their leading scorer Kyria Buford, managed to put together a 7-0 run in the last few minutes, trimming the FSU lead to just two, 67-65, with 49 seconds remaining.

But Smalls was fouled while driving toward the basket as the shot clock was winding down, and with 23 seconds to go, made one of two foul shots for a 68-65 FSU edge.

Shaw got even closer, though, when Aslea Williams was fouled with 5.6 seconds left, and after she made two free throws, FSU was clinging to a 68-67 lead.

But freshman Je'Lena Robertson (Houston, TX), who ranks second in the CIAA in foul shooting at 85.2 percent, made one of two shots to give FSU a 69-67 lead. Brittany Spencer's runner as time expired did not fall, and the Lady Broncos came away with the victory.

Shaw was led by Wiliams' 25 points and nine rebounds. Allyssa Lane added 17 points while Jackie Sanders had 10.

Dasnii Curtis added eight points while Amanda Sinclair had seven points and six rebounds for the Lady Broncos, who travel to play St. Augustine's on Saturday.