Lady Tigers Close Season With Win

February 25, 2008
SAVANNAH, Ga- The Savannah State women's basketball team closed out their 2007-08 season with a 65-58 win over New Jersey Tech on senior night.

On February 16, SSU lost to the Highlanders 90-61 on the road.

The Blue and Orange scored the first four points of the game but found themselves trailing 13-6 with 12:07 on the clock. Solid play led to SSU closing within two on several occasions and the Lady Tigers tied the contest at 22 when LaToya James made a layup with 3:20 remaining before the half. The rest of the first period was nip and tuck. NJIT led 26-24 but a three-point play the old fashion way by Patrice Robinson gave Savannah State a 27-26 advantage with 1:17 left.

Taiwo Oyelola hit a jumper for the Highlanders with just over a minute left and that stood up until the half and NJIT went into he break leading 28-27.

NJIT worked their way to a 37-31 lead early in the second period but Savannah State rallied to tied the game at 37 with 15:59 remaining.

Down by three, SSU went on a 9-0 run to go ahead 51-45 with 8:15 on the clock.

The Highlanders would not go away and fought back to tie the game at 56 with 2:55 left.

Savannah State responded and finally put NJIT away with seven unanswered points down the stretch to take a 63-56 lead with 42 seconds left. At that same time, all five SSU seniors were on the floor. It would be the last time they would play together as a unit.

Playing their last game at Tiger Arena and in a SSU uniform were guards Ivy Smith, Cassidy Jenkins and Shmika Jones as well as post players Shamice James and LaToya James.

Robinson led SSU with a game-high 20 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Ivy Smith and Antoinette Williams scored 13 points each. Smith also had eight assists and eight steals.

Taiwo Oyelola led NJIT (8-17) with 15 points and 10 rebounds. Jessica Gerald also scored 15 points for the Highlanders.

Savannah State ends their season with a 14-15 record.