Caylee Richardson connected on the game winning shot deep in the paint with only six seconds remaining on the clock as the SBU Women's Basketball team picked up a 65-64 victory over Washburn on Saturday afternoon. With the win the Bearcats improve to 11-8 (7-7 MIAA) on the season.
The Bearcats and Ichabods played a tight contest throughout, with neither team gaining a double-digit lead through any portion of the game. Dilonna Johnson started the scoring off in the first quarter with a three, but was quickly responded to by a three from WU. Alex Botkin then scored five straight points, giving SBU an 8-3 lead with 6:12 left in the first. Washburn responded with an 11-0 run, as SBU trailed 14-8, but a three from Sarah Magana with time running out in the first quarter put SBU down 16-13 after the first quarter.
SBU came out in the second quarter and cut the lead down to one (16-15) off of a layup from Johnson, but WU continued to hold a slight 20-16 lead with 6:10 left in the half. A three from Leann Terrill once again cut the Ichabod lead to one (20-19), but WU once again responded by pushing their lead to a game high 8 (29-21) with 2:33 left in the half. However, SBU responded in a big way, closing out the half on a 9-0 run with two three's from Megan Rosenbohm and another last second three from Magana to give SBU a 30-29 halftime lead.
In the third quarter SBU continued their strong play by extending their run to 16-0 over the first two and half minutes of the second half. A Skupa layup opened up the scoring before Botkin went on a solo 5-0 run to give SBU a 37-29 lead with 7:23 left in the third quarter. Washburn came right back to cut the lead to three, but back-to-back layups from Skupa and Johnson extended the lead back to seven (41-34) with 5:25 left in the third quarter. After SBU extended their lead back to eight (43-35) on a Morgan Lucy layup with 4:23 left in the quarter the Ichabods ended the period on a 11-3 run as SBU trailed 46-45 after three quarters of play.
In the final period a Caylee Richardson jumper gave SBU the lead at 47-46, but back-to-back WU baskets put the Ichabods up 50-47 with 8:48 remaining. The Bearcats continued to fight right back, and a three from Johnson with 7:54 remaining gave SBU a 52-50 lead. However, WU once again responded by re-taking the lead and holding it until 2:36 left in the game. Alex Botkin finished off a layup from Magana to put SBU up 59-58, but WU scored three straight points as SBU trailed 61-59 with 1:44 to go. A Skupa layup followed by a pair of free throws from Richardson gave the Bearcats a 63-61 lead with 27 seconds remaining. Washburn came down the court, connected on a three-point basket, as SBU trailed 64-63 with 10 seconds remaining. After calling a timeout and advancing the ball past mid-court, Richardson took the ball at the three point line, backed down her defender, and shot a short jumper over to WU players to give SBU a 65-64 lead. A Washburn three at the buzzer came up short as the Bearcats claimed a 65-64 victory.
Dilonna Johnson and Alex Botkin led the way for the Bearcats with 12 points a piece, while Sarah Magana had 10 points and Caylee Richardson had 8 points and 10 rebounds. As a team SBU shot 48.1% from the field, 47.1% from beyond the arc, and 62.5% from the free throw line.
SBU will return to action on Thursday, February 4 when they travel to Nebraska-Kearney. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m. from Kearney, Nebraska.
