Massive fourth quarter comeback propels Alice Lloyd Lady Eagles over Milligan University, 82-77

Pippa Passes, Ky: The Alice Lloyd College Lady Eagles overcame a ten-point fourth quarter deficit and stormed back to defeat the formidable Milligan University Lady Buffaloes, 82-77. The non-conference matchup took place on Thursday, December 14^th.

In the opening period, the two squads traded buckets most of the way. Then, with ALC leading 13-12 at 3:18, MU promptly closed the stanza with a nice run. When Lady Buffalo Lauren Longmire drained a jumper shortly before the buzzer sounded, it gave her mates a 22-15 cushion after ten minutes of play.

In the second quarter, the Pippa Passes posse promptly utilized the scoring of senior guard Hannah Kash and sophomore forward McKenzie Maynard to make a run. The duo would combine for 13 points over the ten-minute stretch, but their squad would still trail 43-37 entering the locker room for intermission.

In the third period, the Lady Eagles received 11 points from Kash, but the Tennessee girls turned to leading scorer Jaycie Jenkins, to counter her play. MU would take the segment 28- 24, and carry a solid 71-61 lead entering the final ten minutes of play.

In the make-or-break stanza, the Caney Creek ladies tightened the screws on defense and began to chip away at the deficit. In just three minutes, ALC ran off a 9-0 burst to get within a point, 71-70.

Later, Milligan countered with a bomb from Longmire and a single free throw to pull back ahead by five (75-70) at 4:25, but the hosts refused to go away quietly.

After each club traded a single free throw with the clock dipping below the four-minute mark (76-71), the Lady Eagles got a huge jumper from freshman center Emily Estes to get with three (76-73),

Next, after a single charity toss by the Volunteer team pushed it back to a two-possession game, 77-73, the Caney girls looked for their leading scorer Kash to make something happen.

 At 2:20, the crafty guard promptly stuck a driving lay up to get within a deuce (77-75). Then after a big team defensive stop, she promptly drained a midrange jumper to knot things at 77 with 1:44 remaining.

Milligan came down looking for the go-ahead bucket, but a contested jumper at 1:23 was off the mark. ALC grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 1:18 on the clock.

On the ensuing possession, with the home crowd on their feet, the Kentucky girls fed the ball to Maynard. She drove to the paint and promptly found teammate Jamie Cowan cutting backdoor to the rim. The pretty assist from Maynard to Cowan gave the Lady Eagle their first lead since early in the contest, 79-77.

Now, needing a hoop to tie, and 1:02 on the game clock, the Buffaloes missed a runner and saw Cowan grab the board. With no other recourse but to foul, MU hacked Maynard with .17 left to play.

Maynard waked to the line and calmly swished both charity tosses to make it a two-possession game at 81-77. Then after a Milligan bomb bounced harmlessly off the rim, Kash ended the scoring by grabbing the errant shot and sinking one final free throw to chalk the victory up for the blue and white.

For Alice Lloyd (7-4), Kash was her usual efficient self as she poured in a game-high 25 points. She sank 8-15 field goals, 3-5 trifectas, and 6-8 free throws. She also stuffed the stat sheet by grabbing 9 rebounds and dishing off 6 assists, both also game-highs.

Maynard played big once again as she pumped in 21 points, grabbed 4 boards, dished out 4 assists, and blocked 2 shots.

In addition, freshman guard Abby Maggard chipped in 9 points and 5 rebounds while senior forward Riley Schreck contributed 8 points.

The Caney Club finished shooting 47.7% (31-65) from the field and 41.2% (7-17) from long range. They connected on 81.3% (13-16) from the foul line while adding 39 rebounds, 14 assists, 4 blocks and 2 steals.

The game was decided in the final ten minutes. In that decisive period, the home squad sank half of their 16 attempts to produce 21 points. On the other hand, Milligan only sank 1-13 field goals and scored 6 points.

Longmire paced UM (9-3) with 17 points. Her squad finished shooting 41,7% (30-72) from the field, 22.2% (6-27) from behind the arc, and 61.1% (11-18) from the charity stripe. They also added 41 rebounds, 13 assists and 4 steals.

The Lady Eagles next return to action on December 29th when they travel to Columbia (KY) to face the Lindsey Wilson Raiders. Tipoff is set for 7:00 pm.