FAIRFIELD, Alabama — Central State University lost a pair of road games to Miles College on Jan. 27.
The Central State Lady Marauders (7-11 overall and 5-5 in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) had their three-game wiinning streak snapped. Miles improves to 12-5 on the year with a division leading 8-2 mark.
The first quarter opened with a 9-0 CSU run followed by a 10-0 run by Miles. Leading by two, Victoria Sutton scored seven of her nine first half points in the second quarter to give her team a 30-22 lead at halftime.
A Sutton three-pointer midway through the third quarter gave MC a 13-point lead and CSU went into the final quarter, trailing 44-32. CSU climbed back into contention with a 13-2 run to cut the deficit down to one with 6:10 to play.
CSU continued to keep pace with MC down the stretch, eventually knotting the score 56-56 on a Alexus Shirrells basket with 56 seconds left. Kierra Patrick responded for Miles on the other end with a basket while drawing the foul. Patrick sunk her free throw attempt to put MC back up by three with 28 seconds to play. MC made three of four free throws in the final 20 seconds while CSU came up empty on its last two offensive possessions.
Led by Sutton’s 16 points, the MC bench outscored the CSU reserves, 36-20.
CSU was paced by Sandra Guilford’s 10 points and seven rebounds.
In the men’s game, CSU fell to Miles College, 68-58.
With the loss, CSU drops to a 9-9 overall record with a 6-5 ledger in SIAC play. Miles improves to 14-3 on the year with a 9-2 record in the SIAC.
CSU struggled from the field, making 20 of 52 shot attempts (38.5 percent) and were 14 of 21 from the free throw line (66.7 percent). Miles made 26 of 57 field goal attempts (45.6 percent) and made eight of nine free throws (88.9 percent). Miles also made eight of 18 from beyond the arc (44.4 percent) compared to CSU’s four of 21 performance from three-point range (19 percent).
Miles led for over 38 minutes of the game with their largest lead, 59-40, coming with 7:39 remaining in the second half.
CSU was paced by Darweshi Hunter and Harris Brown. Hunter finished with 19 points and six rebounds. Brown finished with 18 points. No other Marauder scored more than six points in the loss.
Avery Brown led Miles with a game-high 24 points along with eight rebounds and four assists. Braeden Stewart added 14 points and eight rebounds.
Both CSU teams will travel to Tuskegee, Alabama to take on Tuskegee University on Saturday, Feb. 1.
