Winona State's Historic Streak Ends
The Winona State Warriors, winners of 57 games in a row, saw their winning streak end Saturday in the NCAA Division II national championship game. Barton College (N.C) defeated the Warriors 77-75 after overcoming a defecit in the final minute.
Winona led 74-67 with 45 seconds remaining and appeared to have the game won, according to the Pioneer Press. However, Barton stormed back on the shoulders of Anthony Atkinson, who scored 10 points in the final 45 seconds.
After cutting the lead to four, 75-71, Atkinson took over. He scored with 19 seconds left to cut the lead in half. He then stole the next inbounds pass and scored agiain to even the score at 75-75. After forcing another turnover with 11 seconds on the clock, Atkinson raced down the court and scored the winning basket with .01 seconds remaining, according to the Star Tribune.
Obviously, this story is meanigless without numbers. Winona State's historic winning streak gives a sense of the magnitude of this game. And the details of the final seconds give an exciting account of what occured. To simply report "Winona State loses" would be a disservice to the excitement of the event.