Albany State women drop seventh straight

ALBANY — Albany State women’s basketball coach Robert Skinner hoped for a fresh start to the new year.

Instead, he got more of the same hangover that plagued ASU during a six-game losing streak in December.

Lane College sent the Lady Rams to their seventh straight defeat Thursday evening, beating ASU 62-54 Thursday evening in an SIAC matchup at the HPER Gymnasium.

It was the Lady Rams’ first game since they lost 68-48 at Central State on Dec. 30. And ASU looked the part of being rusty.

They shot a paltry 33 percent (21-of-63) from the field, lost 25 turnovers and never seemed to get in any sort of rhythm. They led in the opening minutes, but once Lane got hot, Albany State never made a serious threat. They did close strong, but it was too late.

“It was way too late,” Albany State coach Robert Skinner said. “I really believe that the game was probably lost in the first half on missed opportunities around the basket. We missed a lot of free throws. It was a hard-fought game at the end. We should have fought as hard at the beginning, but we didn’t.”

Albany State (1-12, 1-2 SIAC) trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half, then whittled the deficit to six to trail 33-27 at halftime. Tyra Thompson connected on a pair of baskets to open the third quarter to pull ASU to 34-31. However, that was as close as they could get.

As the Lady Rams began a four-game homestand, it wasn’t the start Skinner hoped for.

“If (a stand) is going to be made, it’s got to be made now,” he said. “We play Spring Hill on Saturday, we have one day to prepare and we are getting in the gym tomorrow and work on what we need to work on.

“So much of it is mental … you’ve got to get in there and drill, drill, drill and hopefully, it sinks in. At this particular point in time, you don’t give up, you keep fighting and you give it all you have.”

The Lady Rams played sloppily in the third quarter and dug themselves in a 52-36 hole with a minute left.

They pulled to within seven in the closing minute before Lane ran out the final seconds to improve to 5-8 overall, 4-1 in conference play.

Zuri Frost and Kayla Green led Albany State with 11 points apiece, while Thompson and Uche Ibebunjo added eight points each.

While there were more negatives that positives, Skinner was pleased with how his team closed.

“It was very encouraging to see that we did not quit and we did not give up and then we also, if we could have made a couple of baskets there (at the end), we’d been right there where we needed to be,” he said. “You don’t get yourself in that situation. You’re at home, so you have to protect your home turf and we haven’t been doing that.

“We’ve just got to get to the point where we win one or two homes games, get going and hopefully the ball starts falling for us.”