from staff reports
EAST PEORIA, Ill. — Head Coach Garett Sherman’s biggest fear of a slow Allegany start was realized Wednesday in the opening round of the NJCAA Division II Tournament when, despite a furious charge early in the second half, the Trojans lost for the first time this season, 64-51, to the Community College of Rhode Island.
The eighth-seeded Trojans trailed by as many as 23 points in the first half when nerves seemed to play a part in some early turnovers.
“Our biggest concern going in was that we would have a slow start,” said the first-year coach. “We seemed to be having them more later in the season, and knew that Rhode Island would be too good of a team to be able to perform the comebacks we had before.”
Allegany (28-1) was behind by 21 points, 41-20, at halftime, but put on a big rally in the first part of the second half to get as close at nine.
“We just seemed to run out of gas after our big run,” said Sherman. “That’s why we were worried about a slow start. We knew it would be a tough road to come back.”
Shannon Washington turned in an eye-popping performance with 26 rebounds and 25 points.
“Shannon’s game was tremendous. They (Rhode Island) had three girls at 6-foot-2, and she single-handedly battled all of them all day,” said Sherman.
Alicia Sheppard scored eight points and Melissa Ford added seven.
Sharniece Williams led Rhode Island with 17 points, Taylor Simmons added 16 and Nicole Girard 10.
Allegany, who had a school record 28-game win streak snapped with the loss, will play Kalamazoo (Mich.) Valley today at 11 a.m. in the consolation bracket.
Rhode Island will continue in the winner’s bracket to play Kirkwood (Iowa) today at 3 p.m.
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