By By BRUCE HIXON Sports Editor
These days it seems if it were not for bad luck, the W.S. Neal Lady Blue Eagles would have no luck at all.
A stunning comeback and stingy second half defense all went for naught for W.S. Neal, as it suffered a 28-27 overtime defeat to the visiting Frisco City Lady Whippets Monday.
Monday's loss was the most painful for W.S. Neal (4-16) in a losing streak that hit 11 games.
Frisco City, which lost to the Lady Blue Eagles 31-26 back in November, appeared for most of the game it would cruise to victory.
Salandra Parker, who scored 22 of the Lady Whippets 28 points, scored 12 of those in the first 10 minutes. Six of those points came on a pair of three-pointers and sparked Frisco City to a 16-4 lead.
W.S. Neal was able to work its way back in the game when consecutive hoops by Tiffany Pettis, Jessica Smith, Tiara Matthews and Rhonda Bradley trimmed the visitors' advantage to just 16-12.
Parker was able to regain some of the lost momentum for Frisco City, as she closed out the first half with a pair of free throws and a bucket that put the visitors' lead up to 20-12.
The Lady Blue Eagles' defense tightened considerably in the second half. In fact, W.S. Neal allowed just four points over the next 16 minutes and opened the door for a comeback.
Despite their excellence on that side of the ball, it would not be until the fourth quarter when the Lady Blue Eagles would find similar success on offense.
W.S. Neal allowed just a field goal by Parker in the third quarter, yet fell another point behind because it managed just a lone free throw by Matthews.
Down 22-13 headed into fourth quarter, W.S. Neal scored nine straight points and tied the game at 22-22 on a shot from the wing by Candi Williams with three minutes left. Parker put the Lady Whippets back with a field goal with two minutes left, but Pettis scored on a fastbreak with a minute left to tie the game again at 24-24 and force overtime.
Frisco City's Shanika Sanders scored from inside the lane in the opening moments of overtime and put the Lady Whippets back in front, but with just over a minute left Shekinah Adams drained a three-pointer and gave the Lady Blue Eagles a 27-26 lead.
Perhaps fittingly on a night where Frisco City's Parker dominated play, her bucket with 34 seconds left gave the Lady Whippets a 28-27 lead and the points they would need to win the game.
W.S. Neal still had a chance to change the outcome, but the Lady Blue Eagles were unable to get a shot off after an inbounds play near their own basket with four seconds left.
At W.S. Neal
Frisco City 8 12 2 2 4 – 28
W.S. Neal 4 8 1 11 3 – 27
FRISCO CITY (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Parker 4-4-2-22; Sanders 1-0-0-2; Williams 1-0-0-2; Johnson 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 7-4-2-28)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Matthews 2-0-1-5; Williams 1-0-2-4; Pettis 2-0-0-4; Smith 2-0-0-4; Bradley 2-0-0-4; Adams 0-1-0-3; Marshall 1-0-0-2; Floyd 0-0-1-1 (Totals: 10-1-4-27)