Women's Basketball 2/18/2010 8:05:00 PM Charlie Taylor/Sports Communications

Last Second Heartache, 63-61

ATLANTA (Feb. 18) – First-place Old Dominion was trailing host Georgia State by a point with 7.3 seconds left and had the ball out of bounds 94 feet away after a time out.

Junior point guard Jasmine Parker drove the length of the floor and made a final pass just in the nick of time for Tia Lewis to lay it in the basket with 0.6 seconds left and then added a free throw for a 63-61 win.

Georgia State had re-taken the lead, 61-60, with 7.3 seconds after a pair of three throws by Crystal Johnson.

This marks the second time this year first-place Old Dominion has beaten the Panthers in the final 30 seconds of a game.

GSU had battled back from a 16-point first-half deficit to take the lead with 5:50 left and led by three with 4:15 to play. But, the Lady Monarchs came right back to gain control, 60-57, with 1:50 left.

But, the host Panthers quickly got a basket from Shay Rawls to make it 60-59 with 1:23 left. The teams traded defensive stops and Georgia State got the ball back for a final time when Johnson was fouled and stepped to the line to become the potential game hero.

Shay Rawls led GSU (13-12, 4-10) with a career-best 22 points to go with 11 rebounds, while Danyiell McKeller added 16 more points and six rebounds. Angelique Burtts also added 10 points for GSU.

ODU (14-10, 12-2) got 19 points from guard Shadasia Green, 15 points from Jessica Canady and then 10 points from game-hero Tia Lewis.

ODU had shot 57% in the first-half in building a 39-31 halftime advantage and had broken from a 17-14 lead at 10:47 to a 33-17 lead at 4:50 on that 16-3 run. A pair of three-point baskets by Brittany Graham sparked a GSU surge to close back to the eight-point halftime deficit.

In the second half, host GSU went to work underneath the Rawls and McKeller to re-gain the lead at 44-43 with 13:37 to play with that 13-4 start to the second half with eight points from Rawls.

ODU answered and captured a six-point lead at 9:03, 54-48, on a trey by Kquanise Byrd. But, the Panthers defense and a more work by McKeller gave GSU a 9-0 run to take a three-point lead at 57-54 with 4:15.

“The team showed a lot of toughness and character to battle back and be in a position to beat the first-place team, so it hurts to lose a game like this,” coach Lea Henry said. “But, Old Dominion made the final play that they had to make because we made a defensive mistake. This just shows how close the CAA competition is and how hard all the teams play for the full 40 minutes. I'm proud of the effort, but disappointed in the final result.”

Georgia State moves on to Boston to play Northeastern on Sunday.

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