MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – With less than 30 seconds left in the game, Florida Memorial University senior forward
Isis Lane got the ball just above the free throw line, turned and faced the basket, drove past two defenders and lofted a shot towards the rim.
Her layup rattled inside the hoop and bounced out – much to her and the crowd's dismay.
That missed layup meant Lane would have to settle for 39 points.
Lane's 39 points set a new career-high point total and power the Lady Lions to an 86-58 win over visiting Thomas University Saturday afternoon in the FMU Wellness Center.
The Oklahoma City, Oklahoma native – who composed her big night by shooting 17-of-27 from the field, 2-for-6 from three-point range, and 3-for-3 from the free throw line – said that she was almost certain her final shot was going to find the bottom of the net.
"When I got the ball, made my move, and got to the basket, I thought it was going in," Lane explained laughing. "As I was about to turn around, all I heard was the crowd and the bench go 'ooh' then 'ah' and I knew it had rimmed out."
"I guess I was too open," Lane said with a big smile.
It was Lane's third quarter performance that broke the game open for Florida Memorial (13-13, 8-8 Sun Conference). Thomas University actually held a 35-33 lead over the Lions at the end of the first half, as Lane had 13 points through the first 20 minutes of the game.
FMU came out of the locker room and played probably its best 10 minutes of basketball this season – setting a new season-best for points in a single quarter with 34 (22 of which belonging to Lane), including a 14-0 run over the final two-and-a-half minutes, and held the Night Hawks to just 12 points to open up a 20-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter was more of the same. FMU, which decorated its home arena with pink balloons and wore pink accessories in honor of its annual "Play 4 Kay" breast cancer awareness game, stretched its lead out as large as 31 points before cruising into the final 28-point margin.
Lions head coach
Gregory Stanback said that his halftime to the speech to the team probably had a bit to do with the third-quarter outburst.
"We had a come to Jesus moment in there," Stanback said. "I felt like we were playing down to our competition, like our girls were just kind of going through the motions, and just expecting to step on the court and automatically win. Credit to Thomas [University], they threw some different things at us early, but once we got things going on the inside…specifically got Isis going, we were able to pull away."
Aside from the Lane, FMU, which will travel to face Keiser University this coming Thursday (Feb. 20), also got 16 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks from freshman
Ixsamar Gonzalez. Junior center
Toriana McDuffie even came off the bench and grabbed a game-high 10 boards to go along with five points in 11 minutes of action.
Danielle Bailey chipped in with nine points and five assists while
Airneisha Gamble finished with six points and seven assists as the Lions outrebounded the Night Hawks 55-38.
Saturday's victory not only brought the Lions back to .500, it also strengthened their case for claiming one of the top six qualifying spots for the Sun Conference postseason tournament. With the victory, FMU sits solidly in fifth place – a half-game ahead of current six-seed Ave Maria University and a full game ahead of seven-seed St. Thomas University.
With two games remaining, the Lady Lions are very much in control of their own destiny – something the Stanback said is good, but will be decided by what his players do with their opportunity.
"Our coaching staff told the team that who we are and what we do is totally up to them," Stanback said. "We let our captains run practices and shoot-arounds this week, because we really want them to understand that this is their team and we're only going to go as far as they're determined to take us."
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