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A Fury-ious Finish ends with a Tennessee Victory over Spirit

February 5, 2003 - National Women's Basketball League (NWBL)
Dallas Fury News Release


A capacity crowd of 1807 fans came out to see what women's professional basketball is all about. What some were touting as an easy game for the Springfield Spirit turned out to be anything but. Things started off at a furious pace for the Fury with Keisha Brown drilling a three to get things started, and to get the team out to a quick 3-2 lead. Brown finished up the night perfect, going 4 for 4 from the field along with going 2 for 2 from behind the arc.

Springfield however didn't sit back and watch. Swin Cash went 5-6 from the field in the first half and dropped in 16 of her 20 points. The lead changed hands a back and forth with Springfield eventually taking a 43-42 lead into the break. In the second half Springfield came out and took it to the Fury. They jumped out to a seven-point lead at 55-48 behind Sue Bird who finished up with a team high 22 for Springfield. The Spirit looked as though they were ready to pull away. Then it was the Fury's turn to answer. The Fury was led by Tonya Washington who scored 25, and had 7 of those down the stretch in the final 8 minutes. Crowd favorite, Semeka Randall, led the team by dishing out 6 assists and also chipped in 10 points.

Down the stretch there were 12 lead changes and it looked as though it would be anybody's game. The Fury would go up 80-73 on a jumper by Jerica Watson with 6 minutes remaining. With just under 2 minutes left Springfield would take the lead 87-86 on a jumper by Swin Cash. Tennessee would quickly answer with a Becky Hammon jumper. Hammon had 18 points along with 5 assists for the night. After 2 free throws from Sue Bird to help Springfield go up by one with 1:32 remaining, Tonya Washington came down and nailed a huge three to make the score 91-89 with just over a minute remaining. It would be the last lead the Springfield would see on the night. With the game tied at 91, Becky Hammon buried a three to the delight of the crowd and all but seal the deal. With the Fury leading 96-93 Sue Bird launched a desperation 3 pointer that was no good.

Coach Rodney Minggia was extremely proud of his group. "For a squad that had just been put together in the past week I'd say we did pretty good Coach Rodney Minggia said. "I knew that if we did what we were capable of doing we were going to win the game." "Springfield is a talented team, anytime you face up against players like Sue Bird and Swin Cash you know you are in for a battle." "We definitely are expecting quite a game when we travel up to Springfield."

To get tickets for the next Fury home-game against the Birmingham Power on Thursday February 13th you can go to www.knoxvilletickets.com or call 865 656 4444.

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National Women's Basketball League Stories from February 5, 2003


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