Lady Tigers pull off miracle at buzzer

Capricia Jones’ 3-pointer at the buzzer gives home team dramatic 55-52 win

By Todd Wills

With 4.6 seconds left, the scored tied at 52-52 and both coaches screaming for timeouts, neither of which were given, Lady Tigers guard Capricia Jones did what she usually does — pushed the ball up the floor in a furious rush.

What followed was the highlight reel moment of the Lady Tigers’ season.

Jones heaved up a running 3-pointer inside the halfcourt line and watched as her shot tumbled against the backboard and swished through the net for the game-winning shot at the buzzer, setting off a wild celebration as the Lady Tigers pulled out a 55-52 victory over Terrell on Tuesday night.

Jones was mobbed by her teammates, a celebration that lasted for several seconds as the small crowd in Tiger Gymnasium went crazy. The miracle shot capped a 20-8 fourth-quarter rally for the Lady Tigers (6-3), who struggled with turnovers and missed layups most of the night.

“It’s pretty funny, but I know when she let it go that it was going in,” Lady Tigers coach Laura Walker-Holmes said. “Her form was perfect and she followed through. I wish she always did that on her jump shots.”

Jones said she looked at the clock as she was dribbling up court and knew she had precious little time. She wasn’t as confident as Walker-Holmes was after letting go of her shot.

“I didn’t know it was going in,” Jones said. “But my form was right.”

Twice in the final minutes Walker-Holmes tried to get timeouts but they weren’t granted. The first time point guard Amber Ames ended up with a steal and scored a layup to cut Terrell’s lead to 48-46 with 3:32 left in the game.

Ames, who had a team-high 16 points, followed that up by scoring the Lady Tigers’ next four points, all on free throws. The last two gave the Lady Tigers their first lead of the game at 52-50 with 16 seconds left.

That lead lasted for all of 10 seconds, as Terrell rushed down the court and missed two shots before KayKay White’s putback with 4.6 seconds left tied the game at 52-52.

Walker-Holmes frantically tried to call timeout, but the officials didn’t see her. Terrell coach Orlandor Joseph also tried to call timeout, which prompted Walker-Holmes to give up.

It turned out to be the best timeout Walker-Holmes never got.

“I’m glad we didn’t get it,” Jones said.

Walker-Holmes could have used all of her timeouts in the first half as the Lady Tigers came out sluggish for the second time in three games. They were down 19-4 with 3:13 left in the first quarter, missing 2 of their first 10 shots to go with five turnovers.

The Lady Tigers did trim Terrell’s lead to 21-18 on Ames’ layup early in the second quarter. But the Lady Tigers made only 4 of 10 free throws in the quarter as Terrell pushed its lead back to 33-23 at halftime.

Terrell held that lead for most of the third quarter, leading 44-34 with 30 seconds left as Tonisha Dean raced up court for what looked like another easy basket. But Shavonda Thomas hustled down the floor and blocked Dean’s layup, finally getting the crowd into the game and setting up the Lady Tigers’ fourth-quarter rally.

Thomas missed most of the final quarter with stomach problems, but she had already done her part.

“That boosted us up,” said Jones, who finished with 13 points. “They got frustrated and we started to pick it up at the defensive end.”

The Lady Tigers forced Terrell into eight turnovers in the fourth quarter, scoring four of their points on steals, igniting a 9-1 run that had the game tied at 49-49 with 1:47 left, setting up the dramatic finish.

“We are such a weird team,” Walker-Holmes said. “If it’s going right we’re a hard team to beat.”