By: Jake Miller

HARTSVILLE, S.C.- The Coker women's basketball team fell in heartbreaking fashion to visiting UNC Pembroke on Monday (Nov. 14) 78-75. 

The Cobras struggled to score the basketball and also to cool off a hot-handed Braves team in the first half, trailing 21-12 after one quarter and 44-29 at the half.

The Cobras played a tighter third quarter, but trailed by as many as 24 in the frame. That set the stage for fourth-quarter fury, with Coker entering the final 10 minutes down by 19. A 14-2 run before the halfway mark of the quarter energized the DeLoach Center, getting the crowd into what had become a close game. The Cobras continued to chip away, with Iresha Cooper taking over the game scoring 18 of her total 20 points in the game. The home team trailed 67-60 with just under four minutes remaining, before a quick 6-0 solo run by Cooper erupted the Hartsville natives.

The teams traded buckets for the final few minutes, with UNC Pembroke keeping their lead by way of the charity stripe. The Braves totaled a 72.4 percent mark from the free throw line, which kept the lead just above the home team. A Lindsey Adams three-pointer as the buzzer sounded got the Cobras to within three, but time had run out.

Terrika Foster's 16, Kendra Lambert's 15 and Lyric Levester's 10 aided Cooper's effort, with four other Cobras getting on the scoresheet. Cooper also notched a team-high seven rebounds in the loss. 

The Cobras will have a bit of a rest, before opening South Atlantic Conference play with Catawba next Tuesday (Nov. 22) in Hartsville. 

McDonald's Player of the Game- Iresha Cooper