Feb. 18, 2008

Mt. Berry, Ga. - The Shorter College Lady Hawks fell on a last-second free throw shot to lose to cross-town rival Berry College on Monday evening, 55-54.

As a slow first half opened up the rival game, the Lady Hawks (18-8, 11-5) shot a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line in the first 20 minutes. Three more turnovers than the Lady Vikings (21-5, 14-2) led to a 32-24 halftime score that Shorter would have to make up.

After an opening five minutes to the second half that was highlighted only by points for Berry, Katarina Martinovic scored two three-pointers that gave Shorter some momentum. Six points from Sandra Kostandinovic and a free throw from Whitney drove the score to a 43-37 Berry led with ten minutes in the game.

Down by 12 points with a little over six minutes remaining, the Lady Hawks went on a 15-2 run, highlighted by Martinovic's 13 points, to hold the 54-53 lead with 26 seconds remaining. A foul on Berry's Mickey Duncan with under a second allowed for two free throws that gave the Lady Vikings the 55-54 win.

Martinovic pulled down 27 points to lead the Lady Hawks and was followed by Kostandinovic with nine points.

"I thought we struggled for three-quarters of the game, but I was really proud of the comeback we made. Our girls showed a lot of strength in late in the game," said head coach Vic Mitchell. "We got a rare foul call in the end, but you have to give Mickey credit for coming in and making two big free throws."

The Lady Hawks travel to Columbia College on Thursday night for a conference game against the Fighting Koalas, before a game against Southern Wesleyan University on Saturday.