Shot at Buzzer Waived Off to Give Lady Wildcats Road Win

January 20, 2018

ALBANY- The Albany State Lady Golden Rams nearly completed the perfect comeback in game one of the "Battle of Blue & Gold" on Saturday afternoon.

With .4 of a seconds left and the Lady Golden Rams trailing by a point Kayla Green's inbound pass from under ASU's basket found Alexandria James who nailed a short jumper as time expired.
Exuberant ASU fans stormed the court but their celebration was negated as the three-person crew reported to the official table that the shot came after the buzzer and Fort Valley State held on for the 66-65 victory.

Under further video and screen shot review, James had released the would-be game winner with .1 seconds on the game clock.

Had the basket have stood, ASU would have completed a furious come from behind triumph over the Lady Wildcats. FVSU maintained a double digit lead for the final quarter's duration and held a 62-48 advantage with 3:07 remaining in regulation. Behind a trapping defense, ASU forced five crucial Fort Valley turnovers over the final 2:45 and concurrently reeled off 13-4 scoring spurt.

FVSU's Alicia Franklin sank one of two from the free throw line with 13 ticks left to put her team up 66-63. On the Lady Rams next offensive trip, James' offensive rebound and put-back pulled ASU within a point. James then cause another Fort Valley turnover on the inbounds setting up the game winner that would later be waived off by the officials.

Albany State held Fort Valley without a field goal for the final 3:07 of the contest. The Lady Golden Rams faced their largest deficit of the game, a nineteen point spread (47-28), with 2:41 left in the third quarter.

FVSU trailed 14-9 at the end of the opening quarter, but turned it around by outscoring ASU 20-5 in the second. Alicia Franklin shared team high honors with Kaylan West as they each scored 16 to lead the Wildcats who improve to 3-17 overall (SIAC 3-9).

Green paced the Golden Rams with a game high 22 points while Elesha Foster posted a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds. Achanti Layfield chipped in with 10 points and James finished with a 12 point effort off the bench.

Albany State (10-10, SIAC 6-4) will hit the road on Monday as they travel to Augusta, Georgia to take on Paine College. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30pm.