01/08/08 @ Home 6:15pm Lady Flashes 32 Lady Panthers 37

They played hard, they played smart, they played tough. They lost!
What happened? Palmyra came into the game ranked number 10 in the BCT Top Ten, 6-2 and at the top of the Freedom Division, so it would not have been a big suprise if they had and easy time with the sophomore dominated Flashes Gals. But that didn't happen. The Flashes Gals took the first quarter 11-9 behind the hot shooting of their super freshman Sarah "Too Much" Muchowski. The Lady Panthers came back in the second quarter mainly on the shooting of their stellar guard, Lakiya Artis 11-8 to take a 1 point lead at the half. When the Lady Panters opened a five point lead early in the third quarter it seemd like the inevitable was about to happen but the Lady Flashes refused to lay down and die. They fought and scrapped through the whole game and even had the lead a few times, but in the end poor rebounding and a slew of missed lay ups sent the Flashes Gals down to defeat. On a night when the opponent was really prime for the taking, the Flashes Gals failed to take take advantage of the golden opportunity. The Lady Flashes were never down by more than six points and their defense provided them with several chances to salt the game away as they held the Lady Panthers to just 6 points. Unfortuately, the Flashes Gals could only manage 7 points even though they had several opportunities. They saw their hopes dissipate as they missed several fast break attempts, foul shots and points in the paint.
"Too Much" led the Flashes Gals with 10 points but was scorless in the fourth quarter. Jessie "Slick" Fouts contributed 9 and Erin "Sweets" Sweeney had seven. But the low post gals combined for a lowly 6 points (Stephanie "Two Names" Obannaya 4 points and Chakera "Sugar" Hightower 2 points) as they couldn't seem to find the range from close in. Senior forwar Kiara "Kay-Boo" Boone who generally supplies the low post points was scoreless for the fist time this season. Undoubtedly the Flashes Gals missed her imput and they definately need it if they expect to get back on the winning track against Bordentown on Saturday.

Call it "Home Court Advantage" or call it "Sour Grapes", what it really was is atrocious officiating in the worst form. There were 48 fouls called in the game, 27 in the first half. In fact Florence actually had more foul shots then Palmyra
However, it's not just how many fouls are called (or not called) against a team. It's also when they are called, who they are called on and even which (type) are called. Most of the calls in Florence's favor seemed to come after Palmyra had established comfortable leads. Two of Florences's main sarters were whistled for two quick fouls early in the first quarter when Florence was ahead by four points. As soon as they left the game Palmyra went on a 14-2 run. When Florence closed the gap in the third quarter, the foul calls went back the other way. Only one over the back (or top) foul was called in the game (aganist Florence) and Palmyra had two players with double figure rebounds, one with 11 and one with 18, yet the teams are very evenly matched hight wise, hmmmm. Florence had four of their starters in foul trouble before the third period ended, Palmyra had two of their starters in foul trouble in the same period of time.


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