If basketball games were only 10 minutes long, Allen County Community College’s Red Devil women might not be in a five-game losing skid.
“In the last 10 minutes tonight, our kids played the way we’ve wanted them to play all season. The way they need to play for a full 40 minutes,” said Marcus Hicks, ACCC head coach, following a 69-57 loss at home against Pratt Community College.
“If they would play that hard from the opening tip, we’d win games. That’s the effort we want throughout the game.”
The Red Devils had a good start against the visiting Beavers. A three-pointer by Danielle Best had the Red Devils up 7-4 with 16:55 left in the first half.
A basket by Queona Walker tied the game at 9-9 two minutes later. Pratt went on a 14-0 run to create space between the two teams.
Allen County trailed 33-17. Aeriss McNeese scored, then a three-pointer by Rackell Goldson cut the margin to 11 points. Pratt went into the locker room with a 39-23 lead.
“We had a lot of unforced errors in the first half and didn’t play very well at either end of the floor,” Hicks said.
The second half didn’t start out well for the Red Devils. Pratt kept pushing its advantage, outscoring Allen County 17-11. Allen County faced a 56-34 deficit with just under 10 minutes to play.
Goldson, who came off the bench to lead the Red Devils with 20 points and seven rebounds, sparked the comeback. She hit three consecutive shots from outside the three-point arc. It was 60-53 with 3:54 to play.
Walker scored, then Pratt turned the ball over at the 1:58 mark. But Walker was called for a charging foul.
Allen County’s defense held and Goldson was at the free-throw line for two attempts. She missed but Nicole Swick came up with a steal and scored on layup.
The Red Devils were within five, 62-57, with 1:21 left. Pratt hit 7 of 8 free throws in the final minute to seal the win.
Pratt (5-4) broke a three-game losing skid of its own. Pratt had beaten Allen County 65-49 at Pratt Nov. 9.
“We did a better job of playing defense in the second half and boxing out for rebounds. But we sent a team to the line 20-plus times again. We have to figure out how to play defense without committing the fouls,” Hicks said.
