Women’s Basketball Loses a Tough One to SVU

Frostburg State Women’s Basketball team lost an unfortunate CAC matchup to Southern Virginia, 83-66, Wednesday evening despite a 44-27 lead at halftime.

The Bobcats (3-19, 0-15 CAC) outscored the Knights (6-16, 4-11 CAC) 20-17 in the first quarter and 24-10 in the second, but a slow second half hindered FSU and Southern Virginia was able to come back to outscore the Bobcats 55-21 in the third and fourth quarters.

SVU held a four-point lead for the middle of the first quarter before a jump shot from Young put the Bobcats back in control with three minutes to go in the first quarter.

The lead changed four more times in the first quarter before FSU secured a 20-17 advantage going into the second quarter. The Bobcats controlled the game by making Southern Virginia play at their pace. The Lady Bobcats did this by controlling the tempo and playing tough fundamental defense.

Consecutive jump shots from Kirsten Rayner and Amber Downey put the Bobcats ahead by 10 in the fifth minute of the second quarter.

A 6-point run gave the Bobcats a 16-point lead over SVU in the second quarter, and a jump shot by Downey with 12 seconds remaining in the half giving FSU a 17-point advantage going into halftime. By the end of the third quarter frustration was shown not only by the players on the court but also by the fans.

Opening the third quarter, freshman Bryce Papp and Rayner both made layups to give Frostburg a 19-point lead, the greatest lead FSU would have all game. By now, not only did the Bobcats think they were going to pull out this win but many of the viewers at SVU as well as Frostburg Men’s basketball team, thought this was going to be an easy victory. However, Southern Virginia was not going to go out without a fight.

The Knights came back with vengeance, scoring 13 unanswered points to make it a 48-42 game. Junior Kache Fields and Rayner each scored two to give the Bobcats a double-digit lead again, but SVU tied the game up, 56-56 in the final seconds of the third quarter.

A 10-point run gave the Knights a 17-point advantage in the fourth quarter, a lead the Bobcats could not relinquish and SVU walked away with the victory.

Junior Kirsten Rayner put up 21 points for the Bobcats while pulling down eight rebounds. Throughout the season, Rayner has been a great asset to the team. Playing all 22 games this year, Rayner averages 13.5 points and 9 rebounds per game, along with scoring 20 plus points on four different occasions this season including Wednesday against Southern Virginia.

While freshman Amber Downey contributed 11 points in 18 minutes, Bryce Papp closely followed her with 10 points and 6 rebounds. Senior Courtney Young was able to put up 9 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.

The Bobcats return home Saturday, February 13th to play Wesley for a game set to start at 1:00 pm.