Freshman post player Cheshi Poston made a free throw with four-tenths of a second left on the clock Wednesday to lift the Lady Volunteers of John A. Logan College to a thrilling 72-71 opening-season win over visiting Mineral Area College.

Poston had grabbed a missed shot from sophomore guard Megan Phillips and stuck the miscue back in the basket. One official ruled the shot good ahead of the buzzer. But after a conference with his fellow officials, it was ruled that Poston was fouled on the floor prior to her shot attempt, leaving about a half second to play. Because the Lady Vols were in the double bonus, Poston was awarded two shots. She made the first, missed the second and the clock ran out before the Cardinals could get off a shot.

Sophomore Devin London put the Lady Vols in a position to win with a drive to the basket and follow up 3-pointer to give Logan a 71-69 lead. Two free throws by Mineral Area’s Shelli Liverpool tied the game at 71, setting the stage for Poston’s heroics.

“We made some big plays down the stretch against a good team,” said Lady Vols head coach Marty Hawkins. “Beating a team of this caliber is a great win for us.”

Hawkins said having a healthy London back on his squad will make a big difference in the team’s performance. The Park Forest native sustained a season-ending knee injury last year and is just now rounding into form, although she does play with a brace and lacks some mobility. Teammate Sherita Stanley only contributed one free toss Wednesday, but played some valuable minutes. She, too, is back from a serious knee injury.

“The healthier they get, the better we will get as both of those girls were Division I prospects when they came here a year ago,” Hawkins said.

Logan bolted to a 40-31 halftime lead after leading by as many as 12 points.
Great Rivers All-Conference performer DaLita Scott had eight of her team-high 14 points in the first half. Gallatin County product Tiffany Williams had seven of her 10 points. Logan had four double-figure scorers in all with Jordan James firing in 12 and London adding 10.

Turnovers almost did in the Lady Vols in the second half. They threw the ball away a whopping 24 times on the night, 15 times in the second half. Free-throw shooting was also a concern as the host school made good on only half their attempts (12-of-24).

Mineral Area, on the other hand, shot a blistering 82 percent from the charity stripe (24-of-29). The Cardinals also had fewer turnovers at 15.