Saturday's Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference women's basketball game between Chestnut Hill College and Felician University turned into an overtime thriller as the Griffins rallied from six points down with less than three minutes to go in the overtime to defeat the Golden Falcons 61-57 Saturday afternoon at Sorgenti Arena.
The win was the Griffins fourth in a row as they improved to 10-3 on the season and earned a share of first place in the CACC south Division with a 4-0 record. The Golden Falcons fell to 4-8 and 2-1 in league play.
The Griffins, still playing shorthanded due to COVID health and safety protocols dressed just eight players and received scoring contributions from all eight.
Lindsey Lane (Havertown, Pa.) led the Griffins 15 points (6-8 FG) while
Emily Chmiel (Doylestown, Pa.) recorded her sixth double-double of the season (and third straight) with 13 points and 13 rebounds. The freshman forward also had a career high's with five blocks and three steals.
Kaitlyn Carter (Philadelphia, Pa.) contributed 11 points and eight rebounds while playing 44+ minutes.
Abbey Spratt (Doylestown, Pa.), Lauren Crim (Warrington, Pa.) and Carter led the team with three assists apiece.
Felician hit a game-tying three pointer with 7.6 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime and opened the extra stanza with a 7-1 run started by the Golden Falcons leading scorer Briana Lee (17 points, 15 rebounds) who scored five of the seven points. Lane took a pass from Carter for a layup with 2:38 left to close the gap to four 57-53. Following a defensive stop,
Emily Sekerak (New Tripoli, Pa.)(7 points) cut the lead to two with a putback off a Carter miss with 2:02 left. Solid defense by the Griffins forced turnovers on the Golden Falcons' next two possessions with The Griffins taking full advantage. Sekerak made a short jumper to tie the game at 57-57 with 1:17 left and Crim added two free throws with 56 seconds left following an ill-advised fifth foul by Lee, giving Chestnut Hill a 59-57 lead. The Griffin defense again prevailed and Lane completed the comeback with two insurance free throws with 0.8 on the clock to seal the win.
The win did not come easy for the Griffins as Felician led the game for almost all of the first 38 minutes. Chestnut Hill had forced five ties but could not break through and take the lead until there was 1:27 left in regulation. When Lane's layup gave the Griffins their first lead of the game at 49-47 with 1:27 left. Carter added a free throw with 1:06 left before Tiara Mahorn sent the game into overtime with her three-point basket, her first of the season, with just under eight seconds left.
Felician had led by as many as eight in the first quarter, 18-10, before Sekerak tossed in a half court shot as time was expiring, her first career three-point basket, closing the gap to 18-13 heading into the second quarter. Chestnut Hill battled and Chmiel's two free throws pulled the Griffin within one with three minutes left in the period. Felician pulled back ahead by three as the two teams exchanged points until Spratt (7 points) tied it with her own half-court buzzer beater, banking the shot in from nearly the same spot as Sekerak's to knot things up at 29-29 as the teams broke for halftime.
The Golden Falcons led by as many as five in the third quarter until
Brianna Rider's (Nottingham, Md.) jumper off a steal closed the gap to three 42-39 heading into the final period where the Griffins took their first lead before the Golden Falcons forced the extra period.
For the game the Griffins shot slightly better than the Golden Falcons although neither team was lightning up the scoreboard with their shooting effort. Chestnut Hill shot 34.4% (21-61) from the field while Felician made 21-of-67 shots (31.3%). The Griffins made five more free throws than the Golden Falcons and had the slight edge rebounding, 47-43.
The Griffins return to action on Tuesday, January 11, 2022 when they travel to face CACC South Division Rival Georgian Court University for a matinee tipoff (12 noon) in Lakewood, New Jersey.
