As a reserve forward, Howard sophomore Lisa Pasteur doesn't get many chances to win games, but last night she made the most of her opportunity.
Pasteur hit a follow shot with nine seconds left to give No. 15 and host Howard a 55-53 victory over Glenelg.
"I just went on purely instinct," said Pasteur. "I got the ball and just shot it. I was so nervous."
That wasn't all Pasteur did. She hit a big free throw just before her game-winner and she stole the Gladiators' last chance to tie.
After Glenelg's Kim Brown fired up a long-range two-point attempt with three seconds left, Howard's Megan Boehm grabbed the rebound. But she turned the ball over, falling down as several Gladiators tried to grab the ball.
That gave Glenelg one last chance with half a second to go, but Pasteur swiped the inbounds pass.
For the Lions (12-8 overall, 7-5 league), the win was especially sweet because their top player, Mona Jackson, had fouled out.
"We were all a little bit nervous with Mona out," said Boehm. "But it's good to know when your superstar player is out, the rest of the team can pick up the slack and tough it out."
The Lions got 12 points from steady forward Chanelle Carter, but they also got 11 from back-up forward Katie Kile. Kile hit three three-pointers, including one early in the fourth quarter, to spark the Lions back from a 45-37 deficit.
Jackson still managed to score a game-high 13 points despite sitting out nearly 15 minutes in foul trouble. But she played just seven minutes of the second half and fouled out with 3:41 left -- just after she had tied the game at 46.
The Lions lost no ground when Jackson left, hitting nine of 16 fourth-quarter shots. Shannon Bonner's 16-footer and Carter's turnaround gave the Lions a 50-46 lead.
The Gladiators (12-8, 5-7) never got the lead back, although Brown's driving layup tied at 53 with 37 seconds left.
"We had our chances," said Glenelg coach Randy Wallenhorst. "We didn't box out a couple times, but the play we set up [for Brown's last shot] was there. The kids played really hard. It's a tough one to lose, because they're playing well right now."
The Gladiators couldn't have played much better than they did in the second and third quarters when they shot 56 percent from the floor.
They hit six straight in the second quarter. A 6-for-8 stretch in the third drove a 17-2 Gladiators run that ended in the biggest lead of the game, 43-33.
Brown (12 points, nine assists) had five assists, two points and a steal in the run.
"They were hot as firecrackers," said Howard coach Craig O'Connell. "I still don't know what turned it around. But with the amount of games [four] that we've lost this year by five or fewer points, this is a big win. This is big to win one like this without Mona especially."