Radcliffe B-Ballers Slide by Scrappy Boston State, 58-53

Playing without leading scorer Caryn Curry, the Radcliffe basketball squad brought home a 58-53 victory over an outmanned but scrappy Boston State team last night at the IAB.

After a late start caused by a conspicuous lack of referees, the Crimson wasted little time in jumping out to an eight-point lead halfway through the first period.

At that point the Radcliffe squad looked set for the night totally dominating both the offensive and defensive backboards.

Sue Hewitt and Kathy Fulton pulled down repeated offensive rebounds, giving Radcliffe three and four shots at a time.

However, as soon as things looked well in hand, Boston State unveiled its full court press. Under great pressure the Crimson guards repeatedly gave the ball up coming down court to an effervescent Boston State duo of Pepsi O'Donnell and Brenda Sousa.

Boston State tied it up 19-19 with 4:30 remaining in the half but after four minutes of tough play, Wendy Carle broke loose with three free throws and a last second lay-up, to make the score 24-21.

The second half began like the first with Radcliffe gaining a 12-6 point advantage in the first five minutes.

The key to the surge was the 'Cliffe fast break led by Ellen Hart and Ellen Siedler off the bench. Hart's lay-up at the ten-minute mark put the Crimson ahead 47-28.

But Boston State refused to read the writing on the wall.

Again applying full court pressure, State forced the Crimson into numerous turnovers and converted them into points.

State outscored Radcliffe 17-4 in an eight-minute period with clutch buckets by Carol Filler and Maryanne Sowell which narrowed the score to 51-49.

But Radcliffe came back tough to save the game. First, Kathy Fulton scored two and with the clock running out Hart notched a three-point play and a game-ending layup to bring her scoring total to 20 points.