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PHILADELPHIA – The No. 3 seed Goldey-Beacom College Lightning women upset the No. 2 seed University of the Sciences Devils, 57-54 in Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference Tournament quarterfinal action at the Bobby Morgan Arena on Mon. night.
Redshirt-junior guard Jacinda Jones led three Lightning scorers in double figures with 17 to send Goldey-Beacom to a second consecutive upset win in the 2-vs.-3 South Division playoff game and a return trip to the CACC semifinals.
The Lightning (16-11) will face the North No. 1 seed Bloomfield at 2 p.m. on Fri., Mar. 4 at host Holy Family's Campus Center. Holy Family, the South No. 1 seed, will face off against the North No. 2, Caldwell at 12 p.m.
The Devils, with a starting five of all seniors playing in their final game at the Morgan Arena, fell to 21-6 as their season came to an abrupt end, unless they receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. USciences, which came in No. 7 in the East Region, had won 15 of its last 16 games to end the regular season, including 14 straight. Their only conference losses this season came to Holy Family and Goldey-Beacom. The Lightning were one of just four teams to beat USciences on its home floor this year.
The first half featured a game of ebbs and flows as the Lightning grabbed an early 12-4 lead only to see the Devils snag a 16-12 lead with a 12-0 run. Back came GBC with an 8-0 surge, and the Lightning wound up taking a 24-20 lead into the break.
GBC's interior players, senior Arielle Alford (two points, nine rebounds, two blocks) and sophomore Akliah Sewell (five points, six rebounds, one block), held CACC player of the year, Caitlin Shaw to one point and 0-of-6 shooting from the field in the first half. Alford had eight of her nine rebounds in that first stanza. Plus, both players had blocks in the first half that ignited the Lightning bench and the GBC faithful in the crowd – Alford on an Alyssa Hamm-run fast-break and Sewell on an off-balance fade-away by Shaw.
Meanwhile, sophomore forwards Devonne Richardson (15 points, eight rebounds) and Irene Hudson (10 points, six rebounds) went to work offensively with six points apiece in the first half. The Lightning held a slight shooting edge (33-percent to 32-percent) and held a 23-19 rebounding edge. USciences' Colleen Christian (18 points, three assists) and Becca Ruggear (10 points, seven rebounds) kept the Devils in the game with nine and six points, respectively on a combined 7-of-9 from the field in the first 20 minutes.
A very competitive first half paved the way for a wild second half loaded with big plays all around, but the Lightning never surrendered a lead to the Devils the entire way. A number of times it looked as though GBC would pull away as its lead hovered between 1-and-7 for nearly the first 15 minutes of the half, but a Christian three-pointer tied the game at 44 with 5:10 to go, and it was a one-possession game the rest of the way.
After a flurry of Lightning offensive rebounds during a trip at the Devils end around the 4:45 mark, Richardson finally drew a foul and went to the line to shoot two. She made the second one, and 37 seconds later, Jones added a pair of foul shots as well, and the Lightning led 47-44 with exactly four minutes to play. But Melissa Rotz (six points, five assists) answered for USciences with a rainbow three to tie the game at 47-all with 3:35 to play.
Checking back into the game around the 3-minute mark for GBC was Akilah Sewell, and she attacked the basket and got a wild layup to go as she drew Ruggear's fourth foul of the night. She made her free-throw and the Lightning led 50-47 with 2:24 showing on the clock. Again the pesky Devils would answer with a three to tie, this time by Hamm at the 1:04 mark.
On the ensuing possession, Richardson took the ball strong to the basket and threw up an acrobatic layup that she somehow got to fall while drawing Ruggear's fifth foul. She made her free-throw to complete the Lightning's second consecutive conventional three-point play, and the Lightning were back up three, 53-50 with 43 ticks left.
Back down the floor came USciences, who's Marissa Chesnavich (five points, seven rebounds) drove straight at Sewell and drew her fifth foul to get to the line. Chesnavich made the first and missed the second, but Shaw came down with the offensive rebound to retain possession. Three seconds later though, she was called for steps, and the ball went back to the Lightning.
Six seconds went off the clock while the Devils harassed the Lightning guards with a full-court press trying to get a turnover, but eventually they fouled Jones and sent her to the line. She made the first but could not make it a two-possession game as she missed the second, which led to Christian's third three-ball of the second half (fourth of the game) to send the game to its seventh tie of the night, 54-54 with 15 seconds to go.
Perhaps not aware that the score was tied, USciences quickly fouled GBC's Janae Weldon after the inbounds pass and sent the Lightning's senior leader to the line to shoot two with 12 seconds remaining. Weldon, who was 1-of-9 from the field, had not shot a free-throw all night long, and missed the first. But then, with the Morgan Arena noise at its highest of the night, Weldon swished the second to put GBC back in front, 55-54.
Hamm looked like she would try to take the ball coast-to-coast, but when the Lightning's defense rotated, she was forced to try to back out to the three-point line inches near the baseline. A GBC double-team forced her to lose her balance, and Hamm stepped on the line, giving the Lightning back the ball with four seconds showing on the clock.
Weldon was again sent to the line where she sank both to seal the win. The Devils were unable to get a shot off in the two remaining seconds after Weldon's free-throws, and the Lightning bench stormed the court in jubilation.
Fans can follow the Lightning women in their quest for the school's first CACC basketball championship as host Holy Family will have a webcast from the Campus Center of the semifinal and final action on Fri. and Sat.
