Women Win After Review

February 13, 2008

DURANT, Okla. – Southwestern Oklahoma State University received some fortunate video evidence to reverse what could have been a devastating loss into a joyous celebration and walked away with a 72-69 victory over Southeastern Oklahoma State University Wednesday in Durant.

The Savage Storm appeared initially to have sent the game into overtime when Jasmine Hughey swished home a desperation half-court heave as the buzzer sounded. Only 0.7 seconds were on the clock when Hughey caught an inbound pass, turned and hoisted a 40-footer that banged home apparently sending the game into overtime.

SWOSU coach Shelly Pond argued that 7/10th's of a second was not enough time to catch, spin and shoot and urged the officials to check the video replay. After a few minutes of reviewing the tape, the game officials agreed and disallowed Hughey’s shot and awarded SWOSU the victory.

SWOSU, who began the night fighting for its post-season life, now sit on the verge of moving into a co-leader spot if it could knock off front runner Northeastern State Saturday in Weatherford.

Sheri Yost had 16 points to lead the Bulldogs who improved to 14-9 overall and 6-3 in the Lone Star Conference North Division.

SOSU, which was led by Destiny Brown with 16 points, slipped to 4-4 and 13-10.

The Bulldogs again had a difficult time closing out its opponent as SOSU came back from a nine-point deficit. Yost hit two free throws to give SWOSU a 59-50 lead with 9:33 to play.

Although SOSU did make a charge, the Bulldogs fought back answering them with baskets of their own. Yost made two baskets down the stretch and Lucy Ramon and Jenna Sprague each scored late in the game to keep the Savage Storm from overtaking them.

SOSU got to within 71-69 when Jessica Hocker scored on a layup with two seconds to play. Sprague was fouled and made the second of her two free throws to give the Bulldogs a 72-69 lead with 0.5 seconds.

The laser-directed inbound pass and Hughey’s amazing shot were forthcoming but in the end were disallowed. The clock should have expired prior to the shot, according to the officials.

Tobey Beer had 14 points and seven assists while SWOSU got double-figure scoring efforts by Sprague with 13 and Ramon with 11.