No. 21 Walters State falls to Cleveland State for just their second loss of the season

MORRSITOWN, TN – Despite leading for the majority of the game, No. 21 Walters State could not overcome two Michaela Bennefield free throws with four seconds remaining, falling to the Lady Cougars 75-74, Wednesday night.  

The Lady Senators had one final chance but turned the ball over at the buzzer.  

With the loss, Walters State falls to 7-2 on the year and are 6-2 in conference play. The Lady Senators were outscored 23-14. 

"We just didn't get stuff done (in the fourth)," Walters State coach Jasmin Coleman said. "We didn't convert and turned the ball over. We had layups that we missed. When it comes down to it, we have to make those."  

The Lady Senators were led in the game by Blayre Shultz who poured in 21 points on 8-14 shooting. Shultz had five assists and four steals as well.  

Along with Shultz, Quentarra Mitchell scored 15 points on 7-10 shooting and had six rebounds while Madison Mccoy had 11 points and five rebounds.  

The loss came as a surprise to the Lady Senators who had not lost since their opening game of the season to Chattanooga State. Coleman said the message to the team was pretty simple afterward. 

"Our message is that you have to come ready to play every game," Coleman said. "You have to come to practice ready every day. My teams effort was there, and we played hard. But we still have to execute and get things done."  

Walters State came out firing to start the game building a 7-3 lead with five straight points from Mitchell. Mccoy made it 9-3 with a layup seconds later and the Lady Senators were cruising.  

However, after it got to 16-5 on a Akiraona Steverson made layup, the tide began to turn and Cleveland State had it to seven after one.  

Shultz calmed the nerves to start the second with a 3-pointer, but the Lady Cougars continued to fight and had it to 27-24 late. However, the Lady Senators closed the half strong and led 33-26 at the break. 

In the third, the Lady Senators could not have shot the ball any better, going 13-16 from the field. Mccoy had seven points in the quarter while Mitchell had six.  

"We were just executing in the third quarter," Coleman said. "We just let them know that they had to execute, and they did that. We just wish they could've carried that over to the fourth quarter." 

However, despite the shooting from the Lady Senators in the third, they only outscored Cleveland State by a point. Then, in the fourth, everything changed.  

While the Lady Senators maintained their lead for awhile, the Lady Cougars slowly chipped away and made it a one-point game with 1:01 to go. Then, with 18 seconds, they took the lead 73-72. 

However, the Lady Senators would respond on a Shultz layup with seven seconds to go. But the Lady Senators would foul and two free throws gave Cleveland State the win. 

UP NEXT:  

Walters State will be back in action next Wednesday, travelling to take on Roane State. Tip is set for 5:30 p.m. This will be the first contest between the two teams.  

Rob Harvey

Walters State Community College

Sports Information Director

Cell: (423) 779-8880

Email: sportsinfo@ws.edu

Website: www.ws.edu/athletics