BLOOMSBURG, Pa. –
Nettie Blake's (Jersey City, N.J./Marist) jumper from the right baseline as time expired Friday night propelled the No. 7 Gannon women's basketball team into the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) finals for the second time during the last four seasons. The shot gave the Lady Knights a 63-62 victory against Millersville and set up a Saturday title fight with the host school Bloomsburg.
The final 12 minutes and 17 seconds of the see-saw semifinal featured eight leads changes. Millersville assumed a 62-59 lead after PSAC Eastern Division Player of the Year Aurielle Mosley converted a lay-up with 1:25 remaining.
Doriyon Glass (Boardman, Ohio/Boardman) was fouled going to the hole during Gannon's next possession and drained both freebies to pull within 62-61 at the 1:11 mark. The defensive unit then came up with the stop of the season. Millersville initially missed a three-pointer, but grabbed a weak side offensive rebound. With 16 seconds left in the game and the shot clock winding down, Mashira Newman was forced under the hoop while driving the left baseline. Her pass into the lane was intercepted by
Jen Papich (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) who was then tied up on the floor.
Gannon regained control of the ball with the possession arrow pointing its way. Coming out of a Millersville time-out,
Kelley Sundberg (Mansfield, Conn./E.O. Smith) got the ball to Papich, who tried to drive the right side of the lane. The junior forward picked up her dribble after momentarily losing control of the ball. She then fed Blake on the right baseline. With the clock winding down, the sophomore forward lofted up a shot with a defender draped all over her and buried the shot as the horn sounded. The basket set off a celebration by the Lady Knights and their fans on the far sideline.
Millersville scored eight of the first 10 points of the game and held a 19-12 lead with 9:17 left in the first half. Gannon then engineered its first major run of the game, rattling off seven straight points to tie the contest at 19 with 7:18 on the clock.
Morgan Neighbors (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South) ignited the rally with a three-pointer. Papich and
Jennie Thies (Lakewood, N.Y./Southwestern) followed with the game-tying lay-ups.
Gannon found itself down again 25-19, but ended the second half with a 17-2 run over the final five minutes and 12 seconds.
Kelsey McCoy (Sylvania, Ohio/Sylvania Northview) hit a three-pointer, before Sundberg knotted the score at 24 with a pair of free throws. Another McCoy bomb pushed the Lady Knights in front 29-26.
Brittany Batts (Leesburg, Va./Loudoun County) followed with a triple of her own. The run ended with an old-fashion three-point play by Papich and a Batts free throw. The outburst resulted in a 36-26 halftime lead for the Lady Knights.
Millersville put together a monster run to tie the game in the second half. Trailing 45-36, the Marauders ripped off a 10-0 blitz to forge ahead 46-45 on Celeste Robinson's lay-up with 12:17 to play. The rally set up a tremendous final stretch run.
Batts led the Gannon offensive attack with 11 points, finishing perfect from the field (4-4) and three-point range (2-2). Blake was the only other Lady Knight in double digits with 10 points, finishing one rebound shy of her sixth double-double of the season. Nine different players scored during another balanced attack, including eight Lady Knights with five points or more.
Gannon shot 42.6 percent (23-54) from the field, 50 percent (6-12) from three-point range and 73.3 percent (11-15) from the free throw line.
Carly Gallagher led all scorers with 26 points for Millersville, hitting 10-of-18 overall shots and 5-of-8 triple tries. Miesha Cousins and Yasmin Cooper added 13 and 11 points, respectively. PSAC Eastern Division Player of the Year Aurielle Mosley was held to seven points and 2-of-6 shooting.
Millersville shot 46.9 percent (23-49) from the floor, 41.7 percent (5-12) from behind the arc and 55 percent (11-20) from the charity stripe.
Gannon, ranked No. 7 in the latest
USA Today Sports Division II Coaches' Poll and No. 1 in the NCAA Division II Atlantic regional rankings, improved to 28-3 with its seventh consecutive victory. Millersville dropped to 21-8 with its second loss of the season to the Lady Knights. Gannon will face the host school Bloomsburg in Saturday's PSAC Championship. The Huskies defeated No. 18 Edinboro 76-73 in Friday's second semifinal. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. All the action can be heard live on 90.5 WERG.
