Tuskegee’s fantastic season came to an end on Friday afternoon in the opening round of the NCAA Division II South Region Tournament.
The Golden Tigerettes, winners of the Southern Intercollegiate Conference, were given a No. 8 seed in the tourney which forced them into a matchup with host and top-seeded Tampa. While Tuskegee led early, it was not able to overcome a tough shooting performance in falling 82-64 at the Bob Martinez Center. The loss stopped the the team’s 16-game win streak and finished the season with a 26-4 record.
SIAC Player of the Year Ashiala Jackson scored on the opening possession of the game and the Golden Tigerettes made three of their first four shots to take a 6-2 lead over the Sunshine State Conference champions. Jackson, though, would have a tough night, scoring just six points before fouling out. The Spartans would score seven straight points to take the lead for good midway through the opening period. JuToreyia Willis would stop the run with her second basket of the game before Tampa ran off 10 consecutive points for a 19-8 advantage with just more than two minutes to play in the first.
Tuskegee started the second period trailing by eight points and the deficit was as large as 12 points but the team continued to battle. Nadia Thorman-Mckey capped a 10-2 run with consecutive buckets that brought the Golden Tigerettes to within 30-26 with 1:22 left before the half. But in those 82 seconds, the Spartans scored seven points to take a 37-26 lead into the break.
An 11-4 run by Tampa early in the third quarter put any Tuskegee upset bid on life support. An Ariel McElroy bucket with 3:12 left in the period brought the margin to eight points. But the Tampa lead was back to 16 points by the end of the quarter and was as large as 23 points in the fourth quarter as the Spartans advanced to the next round. The Golden Tigerettes shot just 36 percent from the field while Tampa was connecting at a 58 percent clip.
South Region Player of the Year Sydney Kim scored 27 points on 11-of-12 shooting and grabbed 15 rebounds to pace Tampa. Arielle McElroy score a team-high 17 points, Thorman-Mckey had 12 points and eight rebounds, Willis had 11 points and five assists and Brittney Bolin added 11 points for Tuskegee.
Original source can be found here.
