ASA-New York pulls off second straight stunner with 93-84 OT upset of Daytona State
LUBBOCK, Texas – For the second straight day, ASA-New York took a top-10 seed to overtime. And for the second straight day, the Lady Avengers got the win.
Diandra Darosa scored a game-high 26 points and Stephanie Davis scored nine of her 16 points in overtime as the 23rd-seed Lady Avengers, a day after pulling off the biggest upset in tournament history topped that feat by ousting seventh-seeded Daytona State College, 93-84, in the second round of the NJCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship at the Rip Griffin Center.
“In the NJCAA (tournament) there’s not too many Cinderella stories,” ASA head coach Thomas Davis said. “How many times has the 23 seed made it past the second around? That was our short-term goal. As a program we’ve been here the last four years and never made it past the second round. We did it.
Mary Cuevas added 18 points and 13 rebounds before fouling out in the extra period as ASA-New York (22-2) advances to the Elite 8 to face No. 2 seed Shelton State at 3 p.m. CDT Thursday. Shakila Small added 13 points in the win and Sakara Torres 12.
Darosa and Davis combined for all but two of ASA’s 15 points in the overtime, and the Lady Avengers’ defense held Daytona State (28-3) to just 1 of 10 shooting in the extra frame.
“We made some mistakes down the road that were costly, and some turnovers that were costly,” said assistant coach Nakia DeBlanc, who has served as the interim head coach this season after head coach Cal Cochran took a medical leave of absence just days before the start of the season.
“That was uncharacteristic of us but these girls have fought hard and had one heck of a season. Nobody expected us to get this far. We went through a lot this year losing our head coach and it’s been me and these 11 girls the whole road. I couldn’t be prouder of this team.”
Jazlynd Rollins led the Lady Falcons with 22 points. Brittney Chambers added 18 points and Stephania Oramas 17.
Daytona had a chance at the win in the final seconds, getting a good look by Rollins in the corner but her 3-point attempt was short, sending the game into overtime. In OT, Davis hit five points and Cuevas added a pair of free throws to put the Lady Avengers up 85-80. A minute later, leading 89-84, Darosa iced it with the final four points.
Continuing its momentum from Monday night’s upset of 10th-ranked Cowley County, the Lady Avengers came out of the game aggressive, as evidenced by its 15 trips to the free-throw line where it hit 11. All else being fairly equal, that proved to be the difference in the first half.
ASA took control of the half with a 7-0 run, five points of which came from the free throw line, to grab a 29-21 lead less than a minute into the second quarter.
It stayed that way until a 3-pointer from Destiny Woodard and a jumper from Miah Garvin cut the ASA lead to 44-39, and ASA held on for a five-point halftime lead at 46-41.
Rollins led Daytona with 14 points and was 3 of 5 from 3-point range. But ASA countered with 13 points from Darosa, who had 23 points against Cowley, and 11 points from Small, who played around some early foul trouble.