"All four games have been all nail-biters," said Talladega head coach Romeo Lagmay. "I owe it to my former mentor's wife - I told her we kept winning these nail-biters and I told her I don't think we're that good. She said when you win nail-biters, that means you have a good team and they're holding their composure. The job is to win the game, and that's what they've been doing."
For TC, the win avenged a 53-38 loss to the Lady Warhawks back on Nov. 9.
"The only thing we focused on was payback," Lagmay said. "We went up there and got smacked, and we didn't like that. They were in house now and it's hard to beat us at home."
The Lady Tornadoes were led by Megan Iloff, who scored 18 points and pulled in seven rebounds. Senior Ebony Richardson had 13 points and 10 boards, while Bionca Thomas had 13 rebounds and 10 points.
The Lady Warhawks got out to a 7-4 lead early, before Thomas' basket gave Talladega an 8-7 lead.
The Lady Tornadoes had a hard time defending the 3-point shot early in the first half, as AUM hit four - two coming from Stephanie Torrence.
The second 3-pointer from Torrence put AUM up 24-20. Lagmay called a timeout, and what followed was an 8-0 run by the Lady Tornadoes. Fast-break baskets from Iloff and a couple put-backs from Thomas gave TC a 28-24 lead.
By halftime, the Lady Tornadoes held a 33-30 advantage.
Lynice Schallberger got off to a hot start in the second half, recording four points, a steal and a rebound in the first four and a half minutes, helping TC build a 42-34 lead.
However, it seemed as if every time Talladega College got any kind of cushion, the Lady Warhawks would battle back.
AUM chipped the lead down with a 7-2 run, but three buckets in a row from Iloff put Talladega up 50-43. With about two minutes to play, AUM had once again cut into the lead and trailed by just one point at 51-50.
"That's basketball, it's a game of runs," Lagmay said. "That's what makes college ball so entertaining. It can go either way. At the end that's when you have to focus and right now they're focusing on the task at hand and I'm proud of them."
A big steal and basket from Richardson put TC up 56-52 in the final minute, forcing AUM to foul as time ran out.
Down by three, the Lady Tornadoes turned the ball over on an in-bound pass with eight seconds to play, giving AUM one final shot.
"When we came out of the timeout, I drew up a play and my post players missed their assignments," Lagmay said. "I told them I analyzed the game and I know who can catch the ball. I knew what they're going to try to do, so we tried to in-bound it to our post players and they just missed their assignment."
Torrence's 3-point attempt bounced off the rim twice, sending the Lady Warhawks home with their fourth straight loss.
AUM was led by LaKenya Drayton with 13 points. Keisha Moore had 12, and Marren Schwartz had 11.
The Lady Tornadoes shot 44.8 percent from the field, compared to AUM's 44.2.
The Lady Warhawks will return to action Dec. 2 against Southern Polytechnic State while Talladega College will travel to Faulkner Monday.
"We just talked about Faulkner in the locker room, that's a rematch as well," Lagmay said. "Faulkner came in here and stole one so we're going to try and claim our property back."
The next home game for the Lady Tornadoes will be Nov. 30 against Oakwood.
.jpg)
