Marshall University Athletics
Women's Basketball Loses Exhibition Opener to Ohio Legends
11/2/2001 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Women's Basketball Loses Exhibition Opener to Ohio Legends
11/2/2001
Huntington, W.Va.--The Marshall University women?s basketball team dropped their first game of the year to the Ohio Legends 87-80 Friday evening at the Cam Henderson Center.
Marshall?s first game of the Royce Chadwick era was marked by the Herd?s inability to stop the Legends in transistion offense. The visitors, who had two current WNBA players and three former WNBA players on their roster, continually beat Marshall?s defense down the floor to get easy layups that eventually did in the home team.
?We did a terrible job of matching up and playing transition defense,? said Chadwick. ?We didn?t have the defensive intensity and leadership to win the game tonight. We did a lot of good things offensively, especially from seniors Au?Yana Ferguson (Louisville, Ky.) and Melissa Arnold (Charleston, W. Va.). But, we just didn?t play well enough in the full court.?
In a very competitive game, Marshall took a 42-40 lead and a good deal of momentum into the half on a made layup by Amy Reed (Schuylkill Haven, Pa.) on a beautiful feed from Arnold. The lead changed five times and was tied 11 times going into the break.
In the second half, the see-saw battled continued, with Marshall taking a 49-48 lead at the 14:22 mark on a made jumper by Ida Dotson (Tombstone, Ariz.). The Legends promptly went on a 6-0 run to make the score 54-49 and remained in front until a LaTae Cooley (North Versailles, Pa) layup tied the game at 57. Six minutes later, after the Legends had built a lead to as many as seven, the Herd tied it up again at 70 with a running layup by sophomore Andrea Fitzgerald (Memphis, Tenn.). The Legends, who played with only six players the whole night, then took advantage of a porous Marshall transition defense to put the game away in the final seconds. After another made layup by Fitzgerald to cut the Legends? lead to two at 82-80 with 27 seconds remaining, Ohio closed out the game on a 5-0 run, with four of those points coming on easy, breakaway buckets.
Marshall was led by Fersuson and Arnold on the offensive end. Ferguson was one rebound short of a double-double, tallying 22 points and pulling down nine boards. Arnold was 7-of-9 from the floor, scoring 17 points and dishing out seven assists. Cooley and Cassie Hackworth (Piketon, Ohio) also scored in double figures, notching 12 and ten points, respectively.
The Legends were led by Megan Chawansky, who led all scorers with 23. Jannon Roland finished with a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Dawn Heideman (12 points) and Larecha Jones (16 points) also scored in double figures for the visitors.
Marshall?s next game is an exhibition with Salem International Thursday evening in a doubleheader with the men. That tip-off is slated for 5:00 p.m.
