LaShannon Grant of Ramstein follows through on a foul shot during Mildenhall’s 64-58 victory on Wednesday. (Ron Jensen / S&S)
RAF MILDENHALL, England — Like the tortoise in the well-known fable, the Lady Marauders of RAF Mildenhall started slow, but eventually won the race.
The Lady Rams of Ramstein, Germany, bolted to a 22-7 lead Wednesday in the title game of the USAFE Basketball Tournament but lost 64-58.
Both teams will travel to Bamberg, Germany, next week to play in the Army-Air Force Final Four. Ansbach and Kitzingen, the top women’s teams from U.S. Army Europe, also will be there.
Using a full-court press and aggressive man-to-man defense, the Lady Marauders took the lead for good after Jeri Fears made a free throw with 3:47 left in the game. Alexius Knight canned a three-pointer a few seconds later to seal the victory.
“We just decided to put more pressure on the ball handler,” Mildenhall coach Darryl Carpenter said.
Carpenter used a press to slow Ramstein’s scoring pace and possibly force turnovers.
Cheryl Trapnell of Mildenhall said the up-tempo defenses took a lot of energy.
“But we’ve got a deep bench,” she said.
The Marauders started to chip away at their deficit in the final minutes of the first half, cutting the gap to 32-21 at halftime.
After the Marauders took a 39-38 lead on Dominique Barnes’ putback with 12:30 left in the game, Ramstein scored the next seven points, including a three-pointer by Lanika Freeman.
Bree Griffiths led the Lady Marauders, who went undefeated through the tournament, with 16 points. Fears scored 14 and Trapnell 10.
Lanika Freeman and Jennifer Brooks had 11 points each and Lakyshia Fullwood added 10 for the Lady Rams.
