Lady Hawks take Fort Sill shelling, drop two Published Feb. 11, 2010 By John Stuart Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- It's quite possible the Lady Hawks beat themselves on Saturday and Sunday. Facing the rough-and-tumble Fort Sill squad -- that's becoming somewhat of a mental jinx for Tinker -- the Lady Hawks had to overcome history. It's a history that showed four consecutive losses to Fort Sill. Fort Sill 58 Lady Hawks 54 So it was that the mental game was just as formidable as the physical one being waged on the court Feb. 6 and 7. Fort Sill's aggressive, cohesive play proved too much for Tinker. Despite a good fight, the Lady Hawks bowed to the Cannoneers 58-54 in Saturday's game. "Defensively we just could not get stops," Coach Carlos Hopkins said. "We were in a two-three zone and they were getting layups in a two-three zone and that is just a no-no. We had to battle through that first half and finally we went to man-on-man and finally we got something going." Fort Sill's press on defense and high-speed break offense continued to be a force to reckon with, and were things that Tinker never found a way to fully combat. But the Lady Hawks battled hard in the first half, overcoming a 24-14 deficit with 7 minutes remaining to end the half leading Fort Sill 28-27. Toward the end of the second half Tinker had several opportunities to win the game, Hopkins said. Fort Sill only held a several-point lead and Tinker was rebounding handily after Fort Sill free throws. But the shots just weren't falling for Tinker in the clutch moments as botched passes and turnovers foiled their attempts. Tinker's chance at a "W" against the Cannoneers is still on the horizon though. The Lady Hawks will play Fort Sill again at the March Classic at Fort Sam Houston. But the Lady Hawks have a lot of mental baggage to check at the door, Hopkins said. "Our psyche against Fort Sill is not good right now," Hopkins said. "We're 0-5 against them and it's starting to wear on us. But we see them some more and we have more opportunities to play against them." "One of the things I did like is that they fought all the way until the buzzer," Hopkins said. "We did our best for rebounds and they went all the way to the buzzer." Renada Sims was the high scorer for the Lady Hawks with her 16 points. Alicia Roberts added another 15. Fort Sill 77 Lady Hawks 48 To say that the Lady Hawks' never made it off the runway wouldn't be a gross overstatement. In a game that just didn't go their way, Tinker faced a hard loss against Fort Sill who came back firing on Sunday with every piece in their artillery. Fort Sill dominated in all aspects of the game and at about minute10 of the first half began to put the pedal down. And they didn't let up until the final buzzer sounded as Tinker lost 77-48. Rolling out the same man-to-man coverage that they found purchase with in Saturday's game, Tinker once again put it to work. But poor execution and early foul problems gave Fort Sill the green light. "We started out man and 14 seconds into the game our post player got a foul," Hopkins said. "It was silly stuff. We went back to the two-three zone. But if you don't run out on a person to check a ball and your hands are down at your side you're basically telling them to shoot. You're not playing defense with your hands down. Fort Sill has a few players who would drive to the basket, but all the others would stand out and shoot threes." But with the return of assistant coach Michelle Wagner, Hopkins is optimistic about the remaining nine matchups in the season. With some hard work and team cohesion, he is looking forward to what could happen in the later part of the season leading to the March Classic. The Lady Hawks will play again at home on Feb. 27-28 against Altus Air Force Base.