Lady Cards Fall to Rams at Buzzer

Wheeling, WV, Feb. 12, 2010---Shepherd University junior guard Jerica Hewett drove to the basket and hit a layup with 0.8 seconds on the clock in overtime to give the Rams an 80-78 victory against Wheeling Jesuit University in Thursday night's fiercely fought West Virginia Intercollegiate Conference women's basketballl game at the Alma Grace McDonough Center.

After the Cardinals' Kourtney Booth tied the score with a nice move to the hole for the fifth time during a back-and-forth second half, Shepherd finally gained possession after a turnover with 25 seconds left.

The Rams' Jenn Prine missed on a runner that could have given them the lead, but the ball went out of bounds off Wheeling Jesuit, giving Shepherd possession and 8.1 seconds still play.

During the timeout, Shepherd coach Melanie Ford set up a couple of options trying to relax her team.

Shepherd quickly rotated the ball to Hewett, who slipped through the back door and kissed the ball off the window for the game-winning shot that enabled the Rams to avenge an early loss to the Cardinals in Shepherdstown.

''You really have to hand it to Coach (Katie) Hine. Wheeling Jesuit's game is all about hustle and taking the ball to the basket. That's what wins them a lot of games and will make them a tough out in the tournament.''

Thursday night's loss was even more difficult for the Cardinals because of the way they battled against a talented Shepherd squad. Time and again, Wheeling rallied back despite facing some major adversity. Earlier in the week, Hine's team learned it would have to play the rest of the season without one of Cardinals' top scorers and floor leaders in Cassy Sanderson. The talented sophomore underwent emergency shoulder surgery.

''She had been playing with a hurt shoulder but we didn't realize the severity of the injury until she went to the doctor and was told the surgery would have to be done the next day,'' Hine said.

Along with the absence of Sanderson, two of Wheeling Jesuit's main inside players, Kim Mueller and Megan Stuvek, ran into foul problems early in the second half. Mueller fouled out late in regulation after having scored 14 points, grabbing seven rebounds and collecting four steals.

Picking up the slack were promising freshman Kara DeSantis, who scored 11 of her 15 points in the second half, along with Lauren Myers, Chrissy Pavlik and Booth with two 3-pointers each.

''Kim was having a very good game,'' Hine said. ''She was our leading scorer at halftime with 12 points and it was tough playing most of the second half without her. Kim's been struggling recently but she is one of those troopers who pushes through the hard times. This could have been a breakout game for her if we could have kept her on the floor.''

Shepherd (12-7, 11-4) jumped in front 7-0 at the outset early only to see the Cardinals storm back to take an 18-17 lead on a slick assist pass from Sam Pecnik to Mueller for a layup. Prine's two free throws at the 10-minute mark sparked a Rams' surge for a five-point lead but Wheeling rallied again to go ahead 32-28.

This time, Shepherd went on an 11-0 run to close the half and the visitors began the second half as Camille Wilmer's scoop layup boosted the lead to 41-32 at the outset. Pavlik's back-to-back 3-pointers triggered an explosion that put the Cardinals ahead 57-56 on Nicole Izzo's turnaround basket at the 8-minute mark.

The lead exchanged hands three more times and the score was deadlocked on three occasions until Wheeling appeared ready to break things open after two free throws by DeSantis and Myers' 3-pointer put them up 69-64 with 3:45 left in regulation.

The Cardinals didn't score again until the final seconds when Booth's banked a 3-pointer off the window to tie the score at 72-72.

Hewitt opened the overtime session with a 3-pointer and Shepherd led until Booth's layup knotted the score at 78-78 with 1:05 left, only to see the Rams eventually pull out the victory on the basket by Hewitt, who finished the evening with a game-high 22 points.

Wheeling had five double-figure scores. Myers tallied 17, followed by DeSantiis with 15 points, 14 from Mueller, while Booth and Pecnik ended with 10 each.

''Our girls played very hard for having two of our big posts out with 11 minutes and 8 minutes left in the second half,'' Hine said. ''Then we had to go without them in the overtime. I still think we played very well with what we had and I'm really proud of them.''

The loss dropped Wheeling's overall record to 8-11 and their conference record to 7-7, putting the Cardinals in a situation where they will need a good stretch run to earn a home-floor advantage for the first round of the conference tournament beginning the first week of March.

''If our girls keep playing like this every night and we get some calls going our way, we can turn things around,'' Hine said.