Last-Second Shot Sinks Women's Basketball, 66-65, vs. LIU Post Saturday Afternoon
Links: Box Score
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The Merrimack College women's basketball team nearly pulled out a win against LIU Post, a NCAA Tournament team from last season, but the Warriors lost on a buzzer-beater, 66-65, against the Pioneers.
The Basics
Score: Merrimack 65 | LIU Post 66
Records: Merrimack (3-3, 1-2 NE-10) | LIU Post (3-1, 0-0 ECC)
Location: Hammel Court | North Andover, Mass.
How It Happened
The Warriors took on one of the strongest teams in their non-conference schedule as the Pioneers went all the way to the Sweet 16 last season, bowing out to eventual national champion Bentley.
After the Warriors built an early lead, the Pioneers proved why they went to the NCAA Tournament last season, erasing a double-digit deficit to make it a one-possession game late.
With the game tied at 62-62, the Warriors forced a missed shot, but an offensive rebound and putback from Nyasia Davis gave LIU a two-point lead with 2:52 left in the contest. On the Warriors' next possession, senior Aria Johnson (Los Osos, Calif.) sunk two free throws to tie the game again at 64-64.
Neither team scored again until there was eight seconds left. The Pioneers sent senior Chloe Rothman (Newton, Mass.) to the charity stripe, where Rothman went one-for-two to give Merrimack a 65-64 lead. The Pioneers called a timeout with 5.8 seconds remaining to draw up one final play. Point guard Ashley Castle drove the lane, missing a layup, but Jasmine Bailey corralled the offensive board and made the putback as the buzzer sounded to give the Pioneers the one-point victory.
The game took an interesting turn with 5:15 remaining in the game. Rothman swished a three-pointer to tie the game at 58-58, but seconds late the power went out at Hammel Court. The teams waited out a delay of about 20 minutes as the lights in the gym powered back on.
Prior to Rothman's three-pointer, the Pioneers surged on an 11-point spree over a span of nearly four minutes to erase a 55-47 deficit and take a 58-55 lead with 6:12 remaining on the game clock.
The Navy and Gold led by as many as 15 points in the second half, as Ashley Weissmann (Highland, Calif.) made two free throws to give the Warriors a 37-22 advantage just 14 seconds into the second stanza. The Pioneers chipped away at the lead, until going on the 11-0 run that pushed them ahead for the first time since the early minutes of the game.
In the first half, the Warriors played suffocating defense, limiting the Pioneers to just eight-for-29 from the field.
The Pioneers did score the seven of the game's first nine points, leading 7-2 at the 15:07 mark of the first half. At that point, the Warriors clamped down on the defense, sending the Pioneers on a scoreless drought lasting over eight minutes. Over that span, the Warriors went on a 16-0 run to take an 11-point lead.
The team's exchanged buckets over the next four minutes, as the score read 23-15 with less than five minutes to play. The Navy and Gold quickly scored 10 of the next 13 points, headlined by a three-point play by freshman Stormee Van Belle (Sunnyside, Wash.). Merrimack took its largest lead of the half, 33-18, with 2:14 remaining. The Warriors would lead by 13, 35-22, at the halftime break.
Inside The Numbers
- Rothman led the way with 19 points on six-of-12 shooting. She was locked in from distance, hitting four-of-six three-pointers
- Johnson recorded her second double-double of the season, with 13 points and 10 rebounds
- Junior guard Tia Scott (New York, N.Y.) recorded seven assists with only four turnovers over 31 minutes of action
- Senior forward Cassi Amenta (Lynn, Mass.) gave Merrimack quality minutes off of the bench, totaling six points and six rebounds
- The Merrimack defense held the Pioneers to 28 percent shooting in the first half, but LIU Post connected of 47 percent of its field-goal attempts in the second half, paving the way for the comeback
Up Next
The Warriors travel to Bentley on Wednesday night to take on the reigning national champions at 5:30 p.m.
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