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Savannah State University Athletics

1
63
Winner Edward Waters F-30244 13-15,6-12 SIAC
62
Savannah St. F-632 17-8,13-6 SIAC
Winner
Edward Waters F-30244
13-15,6-12 SIAC
63
Final
62
Savannah St. F-632
17-8,13-6 SIAC
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Edward Waters F-30244 12 15 22 14 63
Savannah St. F-632 15 11 14 22 62

Game Recap: Women's Basketball |

Women's Basketball Falls In Quarterfinals

Bria Gibbs Scores 1000th Career Point

SAVANNAH, Ga.– Savannah State women's basketball entered the 2022-2023 season with a lot of expectations, but on Thursday, those hopes came to an end.
 
Savannah State fell 62-63 to underdog Edward Waters (6E) in a quarterfinals game at the 2023 TIAA Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) Championship, hosted by Savannah State in Tiger Arena.
 
Savannah State concludes their season 17-8 overall after earning the No. 2 seed out of the SIAC East Division with a regular-season 13-6 conference record. On Thursday, the game came down to the final thrilling minutes as an increasingly raucous Tiger Arena cheered the Lady Tigers on.
 
"After nine days off, we found some energy there at the end," Savannah State Head Coach Cedric Baker said in a post-game press conference. "I have to commend the girls for a great year and a well-fought game. We fought from behind. We definitely wanted to get ahead but we came up short."
 
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The opening three quarters were rough for the Lady Tigers. They struggled to find a scoring spark on offense. Edward Waters worked the post well and got long shots to drop. Savannah State watched shot after shot hit the rim and bounce out.
 
Into the fourth quarter, Savannah State trailed 40-49. At the 8:06 mark Paris Thompson sank a free-throw to spark an 8-0 run for SSU.
 
Nyla Allen capped the run with back-to-back field goals to lift SSU to a 54-53 lead—en-route to a 25-point night. But Edward Waters opened another run to regain the lead. With 1:51 to play, Allen tied the game at 59 with a good free-throw.
 
With 40 seconds ticking away fast, Ta'Quasia Lampkin stole a ball, tossed it down field to Allen who dumped it to Thompson for an easy two, tying the game at 61.

After Khadijah Smith made a free-throw for Edward Waters, Savannah State got the ball with 26 seconds to play, down 61-62.
 
As the band sang the school's melody, the chant heard nearly every game, Mia Goolsby took a long shot just inside the arc that missed, but the whistle blew for the 49th foul of the game.
 
Goolsby missed her first shot but made the second to tie it up at 62 with 12.9 seconds to play.
 
On the other end, EWU's Isis Smith drove the lane heading to the basket. In the paint, Goolsby reached in for a steal but instead got Smith's hand. The whistle blew. And the 50th foul of the game was called on Goolsby sending Smith to the line with :3 seconds on the clock.
 
Smith made the first shot for the final 63-62 score.
 
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"My message to the team was we win with class, we lose with class," Baker said. "Just responding to the energy at the end of the game. Just be resilient. Bounce back. We are in the week of midterms, so some of them have exams or some are planning life after college. So it's all about being resilient.
 
"I thanked them all. They definitely fought through adversity this year. We had several season-ending injuries. I commended them on the efforts to stay together."
 
Earlier in the game, Gibbs had a special moment. At the 3:35 mark of the third period she sank a layup in the paint for her 10th point of the day eclipsing 1000 career points.
 
Including her two years at Presbyterian College (2018-19 and 2019-20), where she scored 304 points, the fifth-year senior finished her career with 1007 career points amassing 703 in the last three years at Savannah State.
 
"That was really big," Gibbs said in a post-game press conference. "I kind of forgot about it. I was just worried about the game. It was quite an accomplishment. I always wanted to hit 1000. I didn't hit it in high-school. I was grateful I was able to do it here tonight, on home court, in front of the fans. I wish I could have got the 1000 points and the win but you just have to take what you get."
 
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