Late Surge Lifts Ithaca Past Hanover
GREENCASTLE, Ind. – The 16th-ranked Ithaca College women's basketball team (6-1) scored eight unanswered in the final minute of play to defeat Hanover (3-6) 77-70 in the opening game of DePauw's Amy Hasbrook Memorial Tournament Sunday afternoon. The Bombers will face the top-ranked and host Tigers in the championship at 5 p.m. Monday.
The Bombers and Panthers had four lead changes in the first period with Hanover taking a 33-31 edge into the locker room. The second was back-and-forth featuring 12 ties. A pair of free throws lifted Hanover to a 70-69 edge at 2:48, but the Bombers held the Panthers scoreless, while netting eight of their own, down the stretch.
Senior
Mary Kate Tierney (Rochester, N.Y./Our Lady of Mercy) paced the Bomber offense with 22 points, while classmates
Jenn Escobido (Lisbon, Conn./Norwich Free Academy) and
Kathryn Campbell (Wall, N.J./Wall) added 12 and 11. Tierney and Escobido each recorded double-doubles with 12 and 10 rebounds, respectively. Junior
Francesca Cotrupe (Whitesboro, N.Y./Whitesboro) pulled down nine with the Bombers owning a 48-38 edge on the boards.
Junior
Geena Brady (Syracuse, N.Y./Onondaga Central) also chipped in 11 points as Ithaca tallied a season-high 77 for the second time in as many games. Rookie
Alex Gilligan (Fountain Hills, Ariz./Chaparral) added eight points. Tierney dished out six assists and sophomore
Samantha Klie (Wyckoff, N.J./Ramapo) and Campbell five each. Campbell also led the squad with a trio of steals.
Hanover led the opening minutes of the game claiming a six-point gap at the 17-minute mark, 12-6. Ithaca answered for a 22-16 lead at 11:37. The score flip flopped before the Panthers secured the lead at 4:12 good for a 33-31 advantage at the half.
Despite the Panthers maintaining an advantage in the second, Ithaca deadlocked the score five times before taking the lead on an Escobido layup at 13:51, 47-46. Hanover responded with seven consecutive points, but Tierney converted on an and-one play and drained a three to tie the game for the 11th time at 53-all. Six additional stalemates followed, the last coming at the 2:48 mark on the first of two Hanover free throws. The back-end of the free throws gave the Panthers their final lead of the game, 70-69. The Bombers hit back-to-back buckets and Tierney was 4-for-4 from the free throw line down the stretch as the Bombers outlasted Hanover, 77-70.