By Rob Potter
LOCH SHELDRAKE — January 21, 2003 – The Sullivan County Lady Generals stayed with the Manhattan Community College (MCC) Lady Panthers for most of last Thursday night’s game at Paul Gerry Fieldhouse on the SCCC campus.
Down the stretch, however, MCC was able to convert some key free throws to score a 61-51 victory in the Region XV contest.
SCCC (1-6, 0-3 Region XV) held a 25-24 lead at the half.
But on the strength of long-range shooting by Veronica Sherman and Latoya Steele, MCC (4-8, 3-0 Region XV) grabbed a 44-37 lead in the opening seven-plus minutes of the second half.
Despite not playing a game in nearly a month, the Lady Generals did not retreat from the Lady Panthers.
Down 48-41, SCCC center Miranda Walker scored to cut the Manhattan lead to five points with 7:49 remaining in the game. Guard Rachelle Irwin knocked down a three-point shot 37 seconds later to bring the Lady Generals to within three points at 48-45.
MCC converted five of nine free throws in the final four-and-a-half minutes to seal the victory.
“Sullivan did a great job of keeping us out of the middle,” MCC Coach Rodney Carr said. “They played very well [defensively] today.”
Leading the Lady General offense were forward Lakeisha Brown, who scored a team-high 19 points, Walker (14 points) and Irwin (11 points). Nicole Argent added seven points for the Lady Generals.
Manhattan’s Fanta Sissoko registered a game-high 21 points. Teammates Steele and Chidinma Ogueri added 13 and 12 points, respectively.
“I thought we played pretty well for a team that hasn’t had a game in three weeks,” SCCC Coach Kyle Walter said. “Overall, I’m pleased. Manhattan has a good program and we played hard the entire game. We had a good effort against one of the best Region XV teams.”