The Lady Bisons basketball team has won 12 out of their last 15 games. Last Thursday, Feb. 14, the team went up against Henderson State University. Junior guard Lauren Crenshaw said the game exhibited their resiliency as a team.
“Thursday’s overtime win was just a complete team effort … We played from behind the entire game, but never gave up,” Crenshaw said.
The team played consistently throughout the game, but was never able to pull ahead. With only one second remaining in regulation, Kristen Celsor, a junior guard, was fouled and sent to the line to shoot two free throws. Celsor hit both shots to tie the game at 64 apiece. The Lady Bisons went on to defeat the Rangers in overtime, 76-69.
Celsor has been averaging 15 points and eight rebounds per game. Celsor was also recently named to the Capital One Academic All-America Division II Women’s Basketball Team, becoming the first Lady Bison ever to earn Academic All-America honors.
According to Lady Bisons head coach Tim Kirby, Celsor’s competitiveness makes her a stand out on the court.
“Kristen is a great athlete,” Kirby said. “That is probably the difference between her and a lot of other players out there with her ability to run and jump. Sometimes she makes things look pretty easy. When you include being a very coachable girl and a hard worker then that is a pretty good combination.”
Harding traveled to Arkadelphia, Ark., on Saturday, Feb. 16, to play the Ouachita Baptist University Tigers. The Lady Bisons beat the Tigers with a buzzer beater three-point shot by Crenshaw.
According to Crenshaw, the team played tough defense the entire game to keep them in it. Sophomore guard Montana Lewis hit two free throws to tie the game. That led to senior guard Deshelle Isaac-Boyce making an impressive pass as time ran out so Crenshaw had the chance to take the winning shot.
“Both games were huge wins for us and I think they definitely gave us a fire that had been lacking the week before,” Celsor said. “We are capable of doing some great things with the rest of this season if we fight until the end of every single game.”
The Lady Bisons are heading into the last few weeks of Great American Conference regular season play. With the postseason in the near future, the team is looking to finish with energy.
The top eight teams from the conference will advance to the GAC tournament at the end of the season. Right now, Harding is in fourth place, but the top six spots are all within a few games of each other.
“You want to have some momentum going into the post season and be playing as well as you can play,” Kirby said. “With six games to go you don’t really know where you are going to end up. You take it to the next game and be as prepared as you can be.”
The Lady Bisons will travel to Monticello, Ark., tomorrow, Feb. 23, to take on the University of Arkansas at Monticello Lady Blossoms. Live coverage of the game can be heard on Harding’s own KVHU 95.3 starting at 2 p.m.
