Black Athletes in the Spotlight: HBCU Sports & Local Highlights
- Lauren Taylor hit a bank shot with 0.3 seconds remaining to give Savannah a 92-90 lead.
- Lauren Taylor scored 11 of her 20 points in overtime, finishing the game with 20 points.
- She credited teammates for confidence, called the shot a blessing and said it came on her birthday.
- The win snapped an 11-game losing streak against Jacksonville, meaning Savannah defeated every league team at least once.
- Savannah finished the season 9-25, losing 16 of their final 18 games.
SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — The Savannah Steel finished their inaugural season in franchise history in dramatic fashion, as they connect on a game-winner to defeat the Jacksonville Waves, the top team in the league.
Lauren Taylor, who scored 11 of her 20 points in overtime, hit a bank shot with 0.3 seconds remaining to give Savannah a 92-90 lead, which end up being the game’s final score.
“Honestly, you guys saw as you watched the game,” Taylor said after the game. “The game was very up and down. It became a tight game. There were obviously points in the game where I feel like we could have just taken off. We could have won the game, but it’s not how it worked out. So when the play was called, it was a reset timeout.
“It wasn’t time to talk about what’s going to happen, exactly. Honestly, the play wasn’t ran the right way in my mind. Like at first I thought it would be something else. And I’m like, ‘Well, we don’t got time for this,’ so I just get the ball. And I said, ‘You know what? It’s going to go up regardless?’
“I think I just had the confidence that I haven’t had and some points of this game all season. I think I had the confidence from my teammates and from everybody who was watching, just take the shot. You know, it is what it is. If it was going to go in, if I was going to miss it, I felt like everybody was going to have my back regardless.
“I’m just super grateful because if you were here earlier this week, there was a shot to tie [on Friday night and it was not successful] and I was so down about it. But, you know, everything happens for a reason and I’m just blessed to have done it on the final night on my birthday. So I’m just happy. I just wanted to take the shot and it was there.”
The victory for Savannah snaps an 11-game losing streak against Jacksonville, meaning Savannah defeated every team in the league at least once.
Savannah finishes the season 9-25, losing 16 of their last 18 games.
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