Emotions got the best of the Lincoln Blue Tigers at Jason Gym during their 74-67 overtime loss Thursday night to the Newman Jets in MIAA play.
The Blue Tigers trailed the Jets 67-66 with 1:30 left in overtime when Newman guard Carissa Beck fouled Lincoln guard Kelsey Mitchell hard on the sideline. Senior Niyah Jackson came to Mitchell’s defense and shoved Beck to the ground, leading to double technical fouls rather than just one on Beck.
Instead of four free throw attempts and the ball afterwards, Mitchell got two live free throws and made 1-of-2 to tie the game.
“That never happens with a senior,” Lincoln coach Drea Mize said. “It’s our lack of discipline that’s costing us games. … That’s our lack of discipline and that falls on me.”
Beck made Lincoln pay for the mistake, drilling a 3 on the other end to take the lead. Newman never looked back and pulled away in the final minute to pick up the seven-point victory.
“They go down and nail a 3, that’s game right there,” Mize said.
The Blue Tigers had a chance to win it at the end of regulation.
The game was tied at 62 and Newman had the ball with the shot clock turned off. Lincoln freshman guard Saniya Simmons drew a push off from Beck to turn possession over with 21 seconds left.
Mize’s play design was blown up by the Jets’ defense and the Blue Tigers were unable to get a shot off and sent the game to OT.
“We wanted to get the ball into Le’Yanna (McGinnis), we just didn’t cut hard enough,” Mize said. “Then once they started to double, we didn’t make the right read out of it. I thought Niyah (Jackson) had a good look at the end and she decided to pass and it was just a little too late. That’s on me, I have to work on execution down the stretch.”
Lincoln battled back numerous times Thursday.
After a hot shooting start to the night from Newman, the Jets held a 27-19 lead midway through the second quarter, but a 16-5 run fueled by the defense of Jackson and Simmons gave the Blue Tigers the lead at 33-32.
“I think they were really good in the first half without having McGinnis in the first half,” Mize said.
McGinnis sat out the first half due to a violation of team rules.
Despite the run, Newman took a 35-34 lead into halftime.
The Jets led by as many as nine points early in the second half, but the Blue Tigers battled all the way back to take the lead after one of Simmons’ five steals turned into a layup for herself on the other end, giving Lincoln a 52-51 lead -- its first lead since the 33-32 advantage in the first half.
But during the transition layup from Simmons one of the referees collapsed to the floor with a leg injury, forcing a 24-minute delay and stopping all momentum.
“That was an 8-0 swing to put us up one,” Mize said. “I’m not super religious, but I definitely believe God had a hand in that, giving us a battle and testing us.”
Following the long delay, Britney Ho connected on a hook shot at the third-quarter buzzer to give the Jets a 53-52 lead heading to the fourth.
It was a battle of two styles throughout, as the Blue Tigers pressured Newman relentlessly throughout and forced the Jets into 24 turnovers and allowed Lincoln to have 75 shot attempts on the offensive end compared to Newman’s 50.
The Jets more than made up for it in the shooting percentage difference. Newman finished the night 25-of-50 from the floor and 9-of-16 from 3 compared to Lincoln’s 25-of-75 from the field and 4-of-22 from 3.
“It’s definitely shot selection for us,” Mize said. “I think when we get turnovers we get easy layups and that’s great. But in the half court if we aren’t getting (McGinnis) on a post up, I really don’t like our shot selection. I thought we were forcing a lot of things that weren’t there.”
Lincoln (1-5, 0-2 MIAA) was led by Jackson, Alloway and Simmons. Jackson and Alloway tied for a team-high 12 points, while Simmons filled the stat sheet with nine points, five steals, three assists and two rebounds.
Newman (4-2, 1-0) was led by Ho, who finished with 22 points and eight rebounds. Beck and Maddie Spagnola joined her in double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The Blue Tigers will look to flush the tough loss and rebound when they host Central Oklahoma (3-2, 0-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday.