[Women's Basketball] Women's Basketball Falcons Hold on for Gritty 54-52 win over Bethel
WICHITA, Kan. – HaLee Roland (SR/Wichita, Kan. ) swatted away a potential game-winning three in the final seconds by the Bethel College Threshers to allow the Friends University Falcons to hang on for a 54-52 victory tonight (Dec. 14) inside the Garvey Center. The Falcons move back to .500 in the KCAC at 5-5 and are now 6-8 overall.
Up two with 7:32 remaining, a three by Seuvahnia Kuka (JR/Pittsburg, Calif. ) and scores from Tiffany Hurd (JR/Gilbert, Ariz. ) and Naria Hall (SR/Wichita, Kan. ) built the lead to a game-high nine points for the Falcons at the 5:52 mark.
But the Threshers didn't go quietly and scored six straight to make it a one-possession game with 2:08 left.
Patriece Dodson (SR/Wichita, Kan. ) then hit two clutch free throws to push the lead back to five with 1:30 remaining.
Following a bucket by Josie Calzonetti that made it a three-point game again, Hall hit one of two free throws to make it 54-50.
Melinda Vargas then scored to bring the Threshers within two with 36 seconds left and after an empty Falcon possession, Bethel got the ball with 1.9 seconds on the clock.
Kelsi Fitzgerald got the ball and attempted a heave from beyond the arc, but Roland timed it perfectly and blocked the attempt as the buzzer sounded.
"We got a great lift of our bench tonight!" Friends head coach Dean Jaderston said. "It took a great team effort to survive a tough shooting first half. We had a great third quarter surge and finished with some tough defense down the stretch."
The Falcons set the tone early defensively, scoring the first eight points of the contest while forcing the Threshers to misfire on their first five shot attempts.
Bethel responded in a big way, as Kendall Michalski scored five straight points to put the Threshers on the board and ignite a burst of 13 straight to finish the first period.
The Threshers expanded the run to 20-3 on a trey by Fitzgerald at the 6:36 mark of the second quarter to stretch the lead to nine.
Roland hit a jumper for the Falcons to halt the spurt and Hall followed with a three of her own to trim the deficit to four points.
After the Threshers pushed the lead back to eight, Dodson hit a three with the shot clock winding down late in the half to pull the Falcons within 24-19 at the break.
Bethel scored the first bucket of the second half to lead by seven, only to have McKenzie Shippy (FR/Woodbrine, Kan. ) catch fire and hit three shots from the perimeter to help the Falcons rally back for a 34-32 lead.
A three by Naria Hall was then sandwiched between buckets from Scarlett Gregory (FR/McKinney, Texas) and Khadijah Kelly (JR/Arlington, Texas) to extend the spurt to 22-8 and put the Falcons in front by seven.
Hall led the Falcons with 11 points, with Shippy's nine points and three treys representing career-high marks. Dodson had a team-best six rebounds for Friends and Gracie Sammons (FR/Aubrey, Texas) recorded a career-best three steals.
Vargas and Lindsey Heim each scored nine to pace the Threshers (6-8, 3-6 KCAC), with Abby Schmidt tallying a game-high 17 boards and four blocks.
The Falcons will now play their final game before the Christmas holiday next Tuesday (Dec. 17) at Paul Quinn College. Tip-off will be at 5:30 pm in Dallas, Texas.