Firebirds Dealt Heartbreaking, 74-72 Loss at League-Leading NYIT

OLD WESTBURY, NY – In a battle of two East Region ranked foes, the No. 7 ranked University of the District of Columbia was dealt a narrow, 74-72 loss on the road at No. 4 New York Institute of Technology in East Coast Conference play Thursday night at Recreational Hall.

The Firebirds, who led by as many as six at the four-minute mark in the 3^rd quarter, fell to 19-8 overall and 14-5 in league play with tonight's loss. After two straight league losses, UDC is now 3^rd in the ECC standings with one final game remaining vs. LIU Post on Saturday, February 27^th.

NYIT, which had already clinched a regular season title on Sunday, concluded its regular season at 24-7 overall and 18-2 in league play as the Bears completed the season sweep of the Firebirds on Senior Night.

Senior forward Tiara Goode led three Firebird scorers in double-figures with team-highs of 19 points and eight rebounds. Another senior forward, Iman Scott, added 15 points and also hauled in eight rebounds. Meanwhile, senior guard Tajruba Baldwin-Kollore notched her 25^th double-figure scoring game this season with 14 points while also registering six rebounds and a game-high five assists.

The Bears featured three double-figure scorers as well, including two with 20 points or more. Guard Shanice Allen poured in a game-high 23 points on 8-of-11 FG shooting (4-of-6 from long range) and 3-of-6 from the free-throw line. Her backcourt counterpart Nina Vukosavljevic added 20 points on 6-of-9 FG shooting, including a perfect 3-for-3 from behind-the-arc and 5-of-8 FT shooting. Forward Dina Ragab, a top-five scorer in the conference, was limited to 10 points and six rebounds.

NYIT was the better shooting team on the night, making 46-percent from the field to UDC's 38-percent, and 36-percent to 28-percent from three-point range. Both teams shot a mere 67-percent from the foul line, but the Bears made out with 16 made free-throws on 24 attempts compared to UDC's 10-of-15.

The Firebirds managed to stay in the game thanks to a 46-36 rebounding advantage. UDC outscored NYIT 30-26 in the paint and 18-11 in second-chance points.

UDC scored the game's first four points and had the Bears doubled-up 10-5 nearly seven minutes into the first quarter. NYIT forced a 10-all tie with a 5-0 run, then knotted the score again at 12 at the 1:15 mark. The Bears took their first lead of the game 15-14 on a three-pointer by Julie Williams with 44 seconds remaining in the opening period. Williams would add a pair of free-throws in the final seconds to give NYIT a 17-14 advantage at quarter's end.

The 2^nd quarter saw the Bears open on a 4-0 run only to have UDC force a 21-all tie with a 7-0 response capped by a Goode three-pointer at 5:34. But NYIT's Shanice Allen led the Bears on an 11-4 run, scoring seven points during the nearly five minute span. The Bears led by as many as seven, but settled for a 35-30 halftime advantage.

UDC came out red-hot in the 3^rd quarter, out-scoring NYIT 17-6 in the first six minutes after the intermission. Scott scored seven and Baldwin-Kollore and Goode each added five during that stretch which saw the Firebirds take their largest lead of the night, 47-41.

The Bears answered with a 9-0 spurt, and with Williams' layup at 2:45, NYIT was back on top, 50-47. But the Firebirds had one more run in them, closing on a 7-0 run ending with Goode's fourth three-pointer of the night to put UDC ahead 54-50 heading into the 4^th quarter.

The two ECC heavyweights traded blows the entire fourth quarter. First NYIT opened on a 5-0 run, then UDC answered with back-to-back three-pointers by junior forward Jenka Stiasna to increase its lead to five, 60-55. At that point, Vukosavljevic scored six straight points as part of an 8-2 run to give the hosts back the lead, 63-62 at 5:23.

Three ties and three lead changes later, UDC took a 72-70 edge courtesy of Goode's fifth and final three-pointer of the night with 45 seconds remaining. But on the ensuing NYIT possession, Ragab's offensive rebound off a Vukosavljevic missed layup led to a Vukosavljevic three-pointer to put NYIT back in front, 73-72 with only 19 seconds remaining.

The Firebirds' next possession saw Iman Scott drive to the basket and miss a layup, then miss her follow-up layup after an offensive board, and NYIT was awarded possession on an out of bounds call with two seconds remaining. A quick foul by Baldwin-Kollore stopped the clock with one second left, sending Vukosavljevic to the line to shoot two. She missed the first but sank the second to make it a two-point game.

Following the made second free-throw by Vukosavljevic, Scott tried a baseball inbound pass to Goode near mid-court. While the pass was in mid-air, there was a collision between Vukosavljevic and Stiasna in front of the midcourt line that was ruled incidental contact and not called a foul. Goode was unable to come down with the pass cleanly, and could not get off a shot before the buzzer as NYIT snuck away with the two-point victory.