HARTSVILLE, SC — Coker knocked off Barton College 54-52 Thursday night in women’s basketball action.  The Bulldogs came into the conference as the third best team in the CVAC but were without their star player Keauna Vinson. 

Coker (8-18, 5-14) got nine early points from India Elliott to jump out to a 16-6 lead and led 24-14 with five minutes to play.  The Cobras would only score one more point during the rest of the half, however, and a three-pointer with nine seconds left gave Barton (14-10, 13-6) a 26-25 halftime lead.

Coker snapped out of the funk during the break and took control of the game again in the second period.  CC held a small advantage for much of the half and ran out to a 49-38 lead with 5:47 to play.  Once again the Cobras went cold, however, and over the next 4:30 the Bulldogs scored 11 straight to tie it back up at 49-49. 

At that point, freshman Tyesha Ervin stepped up with some clutch play.  Ervin calmly wound the shot clock down with less than a minute to play and nailed a turn-around jumper to put Coker up 51-49.  BC missed on their possession and Ervin collected the rebound and hit both foul shots after being hacked on the arm.

She gave the Cobras a four point edge with 22 seconds to play but it wasn’t over yet.  Adrienne Walker hit a three pointer to cut the margin to one point and the Cobras made only one of two free-throws with 12 seconds left. 

Barton missed another shot and fouled on the rebound, but this time the Cobras missed both foul shots.  With four seconds left BC raced up the court and tried a long three pointer but missed, giving Coker the 54-52 win. 

Elliott led the way with 17 points and Shamae Hemingway, Coker’s new career scoring leader, added 16 points and 10 rebounds.  Jo Denevan had 14 points to lead Barton and Walker added 11 and five rebounds.  Kelly Lamotta grabbed 11 rebounds for the Bulldogs.

The Cobras play their last game of the regular season this Saturday, February 26, at Queens University of Charlotte.  Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 PM.