Meadville, Pa. – The Oberlin College women's basketball team led by 12 with 93 seconds left to play and ultimately hung on for a, 76-74, road win over the Allegheny College Gators on Saturday afternoon.
Trailing 73-61, Allegheny made three straight 3-pointers within a minute to shrink the Yeowomen lead down to 76-72 with 38 seconds left to play. Following a pair of missed free throws by Oberlin, Allegheny would make it a one-possession game as Marina Scarantino would follow her own 3-point miss with a two-point basketball with nine seconds left to play.
Oberlin was again sent to the line for two with just four seconds remaining and again both shots were off the mark, but luckily for them the Gators were unable to get off one final shot attempt to tie or even win the game.
Senior
Christina Marquette continued her torrid play, leading all scorers with 31 points on 11-of-20 shooting. The Huntington Beach, California, native cashed in a career-high seven 3-pointers on 11 attempts. She also added five rebounds and four assists.
Junior Katie Lucaties provided a big spark off the bench with 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds. The junior backcourt duo of
Caroline Hamilton and
Lindsey Bernhardt also finished with 11 points each.
The Yeowomen were in control of the game in the first half, eventually grabbing a 27-14 lead at the 7:50 mark on one of Marquette's seven triples. The Gators would later claw their way back to within five, 30-25, but the Yeowomen closed out the final 3:30 of the period on a 10-1 run to take a 40-26 advantage into the intermission.
In the second half the Yeowomen led by as many as 17 before the Gators worked their way back into the game at 57-50 with 10:36 left to play. However, Oberlin would quickly widen the gap back out to double digits and it remained that way until the final minute of the game.
With the victory the Yeowomen moved to 10-8 overall and 6-3 in the NCAC. The 10 total wins are the most since the 2004-05 season when the team finished 10-16, while the six-league victories are the most since the 1999-2000 season they went 6-10 in conference action.
Oberlin shot 43.3-percent (26-of-60), which included an impressive 10-of-22 (45.5%) showing from beyond the arc, while the Gators checked in at a 46.3-percent (31-of-67) clip. Jessica Mrdjenovich led Allegheny as she scored 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting.
Oberlin will be back in action at home on Wednesday night when Kenyon College comes to town for a 6 p.m. tip as part of a doubleheader with the Yeomen.
