Lady Marauders lose in final seconds to Kentucky State, 82-81


WILBERFORCE, Ohio - Renewing a longstanding and historic HBCU rivaly, the Central State Lady Marauders lost on a last second three-pointer to Kentucky State on Thursday night.


The two rivals went back and forth throughout the contest with the score tied eight times along with eight lead changes. CSI surrendered a mid-fourth quarter run to KSU to trail by seven with 2:47 to play. Baskets by Kailyn Nash and Lola Chambers sparked a quick 7-0 CSU run to knot the score, 77-77, with 1:12 to go. Two free throws by Taleah Dilworth gave the Thorobreds a two point lead before CSU's Ciara Hardy knocked down a shot from three-point range to give her team a 80-79 lead with 12 seconds to play. KSU remained poised and delivered the game-winner on a corner three from Holani Cantone. With just 0.3 seconds left and no timeouts, CSU was unable to get a quality shot off and fell 82-81 on their home floor.


KSU was effective from the free throw line, making 21 of 26 attempts (80.8%) while CSU converted 16 of 26 free throws (61.5%).


Dilworth led all players with 29 points, while making 13 of 14 free throws. Laurie Thomas finished with a double-double for KSU with 16 points and 12 rebounds.


CSU was paced by Hardy's 24 points and 10 rebounds. Nash finsiehd with 22 points and nine rebounds. No other CSU player scored more than six in the contest.


The loss drops CSU to 2-11 overall and 1-9 in SIAC play. KSU improved to 5-9 on the year with a 3-7 mark in the conference.



CSU hosts Tuskegee on Saturday at 1 pm.




INSIDE THE BOX SCORE


- CSU is now 44-31 against KSU in the all-time series

- Kailyn Nash has scored 10 or more points in five straight games

- Hardy rercorded a season-high in points (24) and in rebounds (10) on Thursday

- CSU dropped its fourth straight game