Crawford’s Late Basket Leads Greensboro College Pride Women’s Hoops Over Ferrum(Milestone Win for Coach Randy Tuggle the NWG-grad)

Crawford’s Late Basket Leads Pride Women Over Ferrum
(Courtesy of Wes Gullett, Greensboro College Sports Information Director)

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Marla Crawford hit a game-winning layup with 8.6 seconds remaining Sunday as the Pride women knocked the Panthers of Ferrum College from the unbeaten ranks in USA South Athletic Conference play, 48-46.

The win was the 138th of Head Coach Randy Tuggle’s(Northwest Guilford HS) tenure with the Pride, tying him Jason Tuggle for the most coaching wins in program history.

Greensboro found themselves trailing by five midway through the first period before Rashieka Gregory sparked a 9-2 run to put the Pride on top 11-9 heading into the second period. Following Gregory’s floater in the lane, Monica Smalls hit a pair of free throws before capping off the spurt with a second-chance basket.

Ferrum battled back to take a seven-point advantage halfway through the second period before Greensboro used a 6-0 run that lasted 2 minutes to pull within 22-21.

However, the Panthers scored the final five points of the period to take a 27-21 halftime lead.

Ferrum quickly extended their advantage to 31-21 four minutes into the third period and held the margin for the remainder of the period.

After facing the 10-point deficit, Greensboro began to click on both ends of the floor.

Following a Katie Lewis three-pointer and a Crawford layup, Ferrum scored two layups on consecutive possessions before Lewis hit from three-point land again.

Greensboro then tied the game with 38 seconds remaining before taking its first lead of the game following a Crawford free throw.

However, the Pride committed a foul to send Zarkira Mattox to the charity stripe with an opportunity to regain the lead for Ferrum.

After missing the front end of the two-shot foul, Mattox tied the game to set up the game-winning possession.

Tuggle called a timeout following the Mattox free-throw to set up a play, but Ferrum held Greensboro in check before Crawford drove to her left and banked home the game-winning basket.

Tuggle, who began coaching the Pride women in 2009, is now tied with Tuggle for coaching wins in the Greensboro women’s basketball program. Jason Tuggle coached from 2002 to 2009.

The Panthers had an opportunity to tie the game but the Pride defense forced a turnover with 5 seconds remaining to secure the win.

“We had a lot of players step up big for us tonight,” Tuggle said. “This was a great win for our girls as they fought hard for an entire 40 minutes.”

Crawford finished with a team-high 13 points, while Smalls recorded a double-double of 10 points and 14 rebounds. Smalls also tallied six blocks. Katie Lewis also finished in double figures with 11 points.

The Pride women will return to action at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday when they host William Peace University. For more information on Greensboro College women’s basketball, continue to follow www.greensborocollegesports.com.