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   The University of Arkansas-Monticello Cotton Blossoms basketball team claimed their third conference victory over the Lady Bison of Harding University. The Cotton Blossoms (7-14, 3-5) defeated the Lady Bison 72-70 off a Sherelle Shipp drive with 2.6 seconds remaining.  

   Shipp, a senior from Wilmar, took the ball, with 28 seconds left in the game, off a pass from April Eason, junior of Memphis, Tenn. Shipp walked the ball cross-court with 17 seconds remaining. With 11 seconds remaining, Shipp headed to the basket and the ball was stripped. Shipp somehow regained control of the ball, pivoted and just let the momentum carry the ball in the basket.      

   Shipp posted a team-high 17 points in the contest, which includes the game-winning shot; she quickly reverted back to defense and stole the inbound pass to seal the deal. She also had five assists in the game.  

   “All I was thinking was that if we have to go to overtime, I’m not going to make it,” Shipp said “My teammates were counting on me and they said before the game that they were going to get on my back and let me lead them to the top!”  

   To begin the game, the Cotton Blossoms came out shooting 3-3 from the three-point line. The Cotton Blossoms quickly took a 9-2 advantage over the home team. They shot seven more threes in the half; four that came from junior transfer Addie Faye Lees of Plainview, Texas. Lees ended the night with 12 points and four assists. The Cotton Blossoms ended up going into the half up 40-24 over the Lady Bison with their largest lead of the night, 16. 

   In the second half, Harding’s Jasmine McClindon scored 14 in the resurgence of the Lady Bison. The Lady Bison tied the game with 28 seconds left, only to let Shipp drive to the basket to end the game. 

   The Cotton Blossoms played without scoring-leader Gemma Gibson due to her traveling with the Cotton Blossom softball team to Hawaii. The win puts UAM in a tie with No. 20 Henderson State for fifth in the conference standings.

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