MOBILE, Ala. – Faulkner came within seconds of finishing the regular season with a major SSAC road victory. In the end, the Lady Eagles fell 58-55 to Mobile Saturday afternoon.
Faulkner held the lead for 38:15 of the game and trailed for only 17 seconds despite playing without three of the five players who opened the season as starters. The Lady Eagles held a three-point lead after one quarter of play and found themselves with a 26-24 advantage going into halftime.
The game stayed within two possessions for most of the contest. The most breathing room Faulkner found all afternoon came with a 6-2 run that culminated with a
Dee Guinn layup off a
Nequoia Adams assist at the 9:57 mark of the fourth quarter. That shot put the Lady Eagles up 44-36 with less than 10 minutes to play.
After a quick Rams run,
Ella Jane Connell made two free throws to push it back to seven with 7:51 to go. Miriam Oldacre and Guinn traded three-pointers inside seven minutes to go to leave it at a seven-point game.
Alanna Donaldson knocked down four straight free throws to get the game back to within three with 4:51 to play.
Sarah Wisniowski parlayed a
Grace Anne Rose dish into a bucket at the 4:44 mark before Adams made two free throws with 3:28 to go to push it back to seven. The lead remained 55-48 until Oldacre made two free throws with 2:35 to go. Those makes set off a 10-0 Mobile run to end the game with a Braylee McMath three vaulting the Rams to a 56-55 advantage with just 17 seconds left. Faulkner got two more looks at it but couldn't convert before McMath knocked down two free throws in the final seconds to ice it.
The Lady Eagles shot 35.3 percent from the floor and won the rebounding battle 31-20 while liming the Rams to 33.3 percent from the field. The ancillary categories largely tipped in favor of Faulkner with the exception of turnovers. The Lady Eagles turned the ball over 17 times, including four during Mobile's game-sealing 10-0 run. That helped the home team to a 15-5 advantage in points off turnovers. Mobile also optimized its free throw line trips as it hit 20 of 26 attempts in the game.
Adams paced Faulkner with 19 points to go along with four assists and three rebounds. Guinn added 14 points. Connell and Wisniowski had six boards apiece to top that category.
Faulkner (13-13, 7-9 SSAC) finishes the regular season as the No. 7 seed in the SSAC tournament. The Lady Eagles are set to play Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. against No. 10 seed Thomas. The SSAC Women's Basketball Championships take place at the Cramton Bowl Multiplex in Montgomery.
