Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
SMU*
SMU Deals Marshall Women Fourth Straight Loss
1/29/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Jan. 29, 2006
SMU at Marshall Game Book
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Three double-digit scorers, led by 16 points from sophomore guard Katy Cobb, directed SMU past Marshall, 72-57, in Conference USA women's basketball action on Sunday at the Cam Henderson Center.
All 16 of Cobb's points came in the second half. For the game, she went 4-for-9 from the floor and was perfect from the free-throw line (8-for-8) as the Mustangs (11-10, 6-3 C-USA) won their fifth game in six outings. Freshman forward Elbie Gates added a career-high 15 points, going 7-for-8 from the floor, with a game-high seven rebounds.
Marshall (10-9, 5-3 C-USA) dropped its fourth straight game after jumping out to a 5-0 start in league play. The Thundering Herd assembled a 6-0 lead, as it did in its Friday night loss to Tulsa, but SMU responded with a 15-4 run. The Mustangs methodically built their lead throughout the first half, leading by as many as 11 points, 28-17, at the 4:54 mark of the first half.
SMU's Katie Gross hit a baseline jumper with two seconds left to give Rhonda Rompola's team a seven-point advantage at the half. Gross' field goal countered a Bridget Chacon 3-pointer in Marshall's last possession of the first stanza.
The second half was more of the same for SMU, but Cobb's offense kept Marshall at bay. SMU led by 14 points, 46-32, at 15:46 before Marshall's run to get back in the game. A Reshundra Smiley 3-pointer brought the Herd to within three, 53-50 at 8:57, but it would get no closer. Marshall scored only seven more points down the stretch while SMU continued its assault.
"It really hurts to be sitting here thinking about what could have happened and what we hoped would happen," Marshall coach Royce Chadwick said. "It just seemed like every time we decided to make a run something would happen.
"We didn't shoot well in the second half."
Marshall's second-half shooting percentage dropped to 32.1 percent. For the game, the Herd converted 37.0 percent of its attempts, while the Mustangs' shots fell 46.4 percent of the time.
"We couldn't get shots to give us that boost," Chadwick said.
"We're so tired of losing," Marshall center Modupe Ishola said. "We got our hopes up going out there and thinking we're going to do it, but we'd get in a big hole and drop out of it."
Ishola scored a team-high 12 points off the bench in only 13 minutes. The C-USA field goal percentage leader went 5-of-7 from the floor. Chacon chipped in eight points with a pair of blocks. Freshman Kendra King, making her fourth career start, pulled down a team-high five rebounds. King, a Fairfax, Va., native along with SMU leading scorer Janielle Dodds, matched up with Dodds for much of the game.
Dodds scored nine points with six rebounds, seven points below her season average, and added four steals.
Marshall out-rebounded SMU 35-34, but its 22 turnovers produced 29 SMU points. The Herd scored only nine points off turnovers.
Sikeetha Shepard-Hall came off the bench for eight points and four rebounds in 24 minutes. She had started 67 straight games entering Sunday, with her last non-start coming on Dec. 31, 2003, versus Mississippi.
Marshall will get a much-needed six days off before its next game, Feb. 4 at East Carolina.
