November 30, 2010

SAVANNAH, Ga.- Ezinne Kalu scored a game-high 22 points but none was bigger than the 3-pointer she hit at the buzzer to give Savannah State a 56-54 win over Central Florida in Tiger Arena before 757 fans.

Savannah State led 53-52 after Kalu made a layup with 53 seconds left but Aisha Patrick's layup with 24 seconds left put UCF ahead 54-53.

SSU took the possession and made it up court where Kalu drilled the game winner as the clock struck :00.

The win evens Savannah State's overall record at 3-3 but improves their record at Tiger Arena to 3-0.

Central Florida, who was led by Patrick's 17 points and seven rebounds, drops to 3-3.

SSU led 14-13 in the opening period but the Knights responded with 10 unanswered points for a 23-14 edge with 3:14 left.

The Lady Tigers closed the half with a layup by Charmaine Greene and a 3-pointer by Jasmine Kirkland and went into the locker room trailing 23-19.

Back to back 3-pointers by Kalu and Darice Fountaine tied the scored at 25 with 17:27 left in the second half.

UCF added five unanswered points to go ahead 30-25 with 15:35 remaining but SSU tied the game at 34 at the 12:13 mark.

The last tie of the game came when UCF's Chelsie Wiley made one of two free throws to tie the game at 51 with two minutes left. A free throw by Patrick gave UCF a 52-51 lead with one minute remaining.

Fountaine added 11 points and six rebounds for SSU while Alisha had 10 points.

After shooting 34.8 from the floor in the first period, SSU made half of its shots in the second half and finished shooting 43.4 percent from the field and 70 percent (7 of 10) from 3-point range.

Kalu made 4 of 6 3-point attempts and added four assists and three steals.