Box Score
SALISBURY, NC – Johnson C. Smith connected on a jumper with four seconds on the clock Saturday to defeat the Livingstone women’s basketball team 56-54.
Junior forward Brittany Wright led the Blue Bears with 15 points in 23 minutes of play while junior forward Cassaundra Rhodes added 10 points.
The whole 40 minutes Saturday night were a back and forth battled between the Blue Bears and Golden Bulls. Johnson C. Smith took the early lead over the Blue Bears 6-4, but Livingstone rebounded to grab a 13-6 lead with 12:49 to play in the first half. Livingstone was able to maintain a small lead for most of the remainder of the first half.
Johnson C. Smith was able to take a 26-24 lead with 1:13 to play in the half, but the Blue Bears squared the game with 41 seconds left after two free throws. With eight seconds left Johnson C. Smith regained the lead 28-26 and took that lead into halftime.
In the second half, Johnson C. Smith opened up a nine-point lead less than four minutes out of the break. Despite the nine-point deficit, the Blue Bears were able to go on a 6-0 run and get within three points with 14:52 showing on the clock.
The Golden Bulls got their lead back to eight points with 11 minutes to play, but another Blue Bears comeback quickly followed. With 5:19 to play the Blue Bears trailed by only one point. With 3:20 to play, Rashida Elbourne knocked down a three-pointer to tie the game at 54-54 and those were the last points either team scored until the shot by Smith with four seconds left to win the game.
The Blue Bears shot 30 percent from the field for the game including 35 percent from three-point range. Livingstone got to the charity stripe only nine times for the game, hitting seven of them.
With the loss, the Blue Bears fell to 8-12 overall, 4-10 in the conference and 2-2 in the western division. Johnson C. Smith improved to 16-6 overall, 9-6 in the CIAA and 3-2 in the division.
Livingstone will be back in action on Monday evening when they travel to face the Shaw Bears at 5:30 p.m. In their first meeting this year, the Blue Bears defeated the Bears 70-61.