Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 12, 1994 TAG: 9403120190
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Staff report
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Short
Samantha Gilbert came off the bench and scored 21 points to lead four-time defending champion Radford to a 72-63 victory over Maryland-Baltimore County in a semifinal Friday night. The Highlanders have been in eight consecutive finals and will play UNC Greensboro, a 73-69 winner over Towson State, at 7 p.m. today. Radford has won 13 consecutive Big South tournament games.
Radford (17-11) connected on 13 of its last 15 free throws in over the final 4 minutes, 14 seconds to hold off the Retrievers (15-12). The Highlanders made 29 of 38 from the line overall and led 32-29 at halftime.
Second-seeded UMBC led 41-36 with 16:11 to play when Mandy Woolstenhulme, who scored 11 points, canned a 3-pointer. But the Highlanders went on a 21-5 run in the next seven minutes behind Sara Larsen, who scored 10 of her career-high 16 points during the stretch.
Radford scored only one field goal the rest of the game, and UMBC cut its deficit to three points on two occasions, the last time at 3:58 when Woolstenhulme hit a short jumper to make the score 59-56.
Radford's Nicole Gardiner responded with two free throws at 3:55 and hit two 30 seconds later to make it a 63-56 lead.
Shannan Wilkey had 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Highlanders. She was 3-of-11 from the field, but hit eight of 10 free throws.
Missy Quille led the Retrievers with 21 points, and Nikki Tinsley had 18. Eunice French had 11 points and 11 rebounds.
UMBC was 9-of-19 from the free-throw line.
by CNB