By Rob Potter
LOCH SHELDRAKE — February 22, 2002 – Victory seemed to be within the grasp of the Sullivan County Community College Lady Generals in the last minutes of Wednesday night’s game versus Monroe Community College.
With 3:11 showing on the Paul Gerry Fieldhouse scoreboard and SCCC holding a slim 55-53 lead, Monroe CC’s Shumika Whitmore fouled out. A key player fouling out late in a college basketball game is nothing new, however, since only five Monroe CC players made the trip from the Bronx, it meant that the squad had to play with only four players.
But those four Monroe (13-10, 8-8 Region XV) players outscored the Lady Generals by a 13-6 margin in those last three minutes to earn the 66-61 win in the Region XV contest.
“It was a good game and the kids fought hard,” Monroe CC Coach Seth Goodman said. “And the fact that we had only five players and won is a testament to how hard these ladies played.”
SCCC (4-11, 2-10 Region XV) fell behind by as many as 10 points in the first half, but battled back in the second half. With 16:23 remaining in the game, guard Rachelle Irwin swished a three pointer from the top of the key to give the Lady Generals their first lead of the contest, 38-36.
But SCCC could not build its lead to more than six points.
Monroe’s Jewel Joachim converted two free throws with :59 left in the game to break a 59-59 tie. As a team, Monroe was five-for-seven at the line in the final minute to ice the win.
“Nicole Feller shot well from the foul line all night, she made eight of 10 free throws,” SCCC Coach Kyle Walter said. “But the rest of the team was four of 13 tonight. And we were one for eight down the stretch.”
Feller and Hinnifah George each scored 16 points to lead the Lady General offense and Irwin added 13.
Joachim finished the evening with a game-high 29 points and Whitmore netted 16 points before fouling out.
“This was (a) very tough (loss),” Walter said. “We played well in spurts, but we didn’t put it together when we had to. If you let a team stick around long enough it will come back to bite you in the end.”