BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Moravian College continues its look back at its 2013-14 athletic campaign with the No. 4 highlight in the Top 10 Exciting Games & Fantastic Finishes – the women's basketball team defeating No. 25 The University of Scranton, 66-65, on four free throws in the final eight seconds.
The Greyhounds and the Royals were playing for the first time this season at the John Long Center in Scranton on January 29. Both meetings in the regular season were one-point games with the visiting team winning each time, and the Royals won the third meeting that came in March for the Landmark Conference championship.
Scranton took the opening lead of the game but the Hounds quickly responded and had a 7-4 lead after a lay-up from senior guard Katie O'Rourke just over three minutes into the contest. The squads would trade the lead over the next four minutes with the Greyhounds up 15-13 after two O'Rourke free throws at the 12:52 mark.
The Royals used a 10-0 run over the next two and a half minutes to pull away, 23-15, halfway through the opening 20 minutes of action, and Scranton pushed the advantage to 11 points, 36-27, with three minutes until the intermission. The Hounds were able to close the gap a little, heading to the locker room down by eight points, 37-29.
"We discussed playing more consistent," stated Head Coach Mary Beth Spirk when recalling her halftime talk. "We did not play great in the first half and we were only down eight, so if we could play at a higher level and be more consistent, we would be right back in the game."
Early in the second half, the teams traded baskets, and Scranton was able to push its lead back to 11 points, 45-34, with 16:15 remaining in the game.
Sophomore guard Emily MacDonnell made a jumper a minute later to start an 11-0 run by the Greyhounds that saw sophomore forward Alesha Marcks tie the contest at 45-45 with a jumper at 12:09.
"We just played harder and smarter," Spirk said of the run. "We were getting out-hustled in the beginning of the second half and simply picked it up a notch. And we started believing we could play with them."
The Royals responded with a 9-2 spurt to pull back ahead by seven points, 54-47, with 8:14 on the clock but once again the Hounds answered with an 8-0 run to retake the lead, 55-54, on a jumper from senior forward Laura Jordan with five and a half minutes to play.
After Scranton moved back in front, 57-55, a free throw by O'Rourke and a jumper from Marcks put the Hounds up 58-57 with 2:14 left. The Royals scored the next basket but O'Rourke put Moravian on top, 60-59, with 80 ticks remaining on the clock. Marcks made the lead three points, 62-59, with a jumper with 44 seconds left.
"We felt pretty good," commented Spirk on the late lead. "Our effort was solid, we were consistent and we were playing with a passion I had not seen on the road at Scranton in a few years."
Prior to the game, the Hounds hadn't earned a victory in the Long Center since December of 2009.
However, Scranton would get a jumper to pull within a point, and after a turnover by the Hounds, the Royals hit two free throws to retake the lead, 63-62, with 17 seconds to play. The Greyhounds committed another turnover on their next trip down the court, and Scranton added two more free throws for a 65-62 advantage with just 13 seconds remaining.
"I was stunned actually," Spirk stated on the Royals retaking the lead. "We had basically panicked and given the game away."
O'Rourke was having similar feelings.
"I remember the end of the game being full of ups and downs for us," O'Rourke said. "We would make a great play, get a stop on defense, and then have a turnover. Luckily, the same things were happening for Scranton. It was amazing that as a group we were able to keep coming up with good plays when we needed them. We showed more resiliency in that final minute than we did all season at that point."
Immediately after the free throws made by Scranton, O'Rourke was fouled.
"I was surprised they fouled Katie at the point," Spirk commented.
O'Rourke made both shots from the charity stripe to pull the Hounds' back within a point, 65-64, with 12 ticks on the scoreboard clock.
"I was feeling a lot of pressure at that point," explained O'Rourke. "I usually don't really feel much when shooting foul shots, but I remember thinking about how big of a deal those two shots were. Looking back, I was way more nervous for those shots than the final two."
Moravian would foul again on defense, sending the Royals back to the line with eight seconds remaining. Before the first attempt, Spirk called her final timeout.
"We did not have a timeout after that one, so we wanted to make sure we boxed out hard, so if they missed, we would get the rebound," Spirk recalled. "If they did miss, we had to push the ball down and go to the basket. We practice end of games, so we knew it was plenty of time to get to the rim. Obviously if they made both foul shots, we had to shoot the three-pointer, otherwise, go to the basket."
Scranton missed the first free throw, and Marcks grabbed her fifth rebound of the game to send the Greyhounds towards the offensive end of the floor. Senior Alyssa Hann took the ball up the court and found a streaking O'Rourke on her way to the basket.
"Shot goes up, we secure the rebound which was not a given, with Alesha being outsized under the boards, outlet to Alyssa and she starts dribbling down the court wildly," Spirk explained of the final seconds. "In my head, I am thinking just go to the basket, do not pull up and shoot an outside shot, then all of a sudden, Katie comes streaking down the court. Alyssa hits her in stride and Katie goes right to the rim...and we wanted Katie taking the last shot, make, miss or foul shot. I really thought the lay-up was going in, and thought wow, what a play. The ball rolled out, but I was confident in Katie making both shots. It was an awesome game."
While the shot didn't fall, O'Rourke went to the foul line, where she was 7-of-8 already in the game, for two more free throws with under one full second showing on the clock.
"At first, I was kind of in shock that I was even about to be in that situation," O'Rourke said. "That our team was able to get that shot in those few seconds (not even from an inbound) was pretty amazing. I think I was so mentally exhausted that I was really calm. The best thing about this moment of the game was right after I got fouled, Alyssa ran over and jumped on me and told me how much she loved me and I was like, "Alyssa I didn't even shoot the foul shots yet." We have talked about that so many times since this game happened. When I was getting ready to go to the foul line I was having a legitimate debate in my head whether to be completely confident or to make myself feel nervous. Luckily when the time came I just kind of blacked out and they went in."
O'Rourke calmly hit both free throws for the 66-65 win, one of four one-point games the Hounds played in 2013-14.
"I think we were all so ecstatic and relieved to be winning at that point that there was absolutely no way that we would ever let Scranton score," O'Rourke stated. "With 0.3 seconds left our job was pretty easy. The feeling we all had right after the buzzer went off was absolutely incredible. Whether I was taking the foul shots at the end or not, that game would be the highlight of my basketball career without a doubt."
You can check out the original game day story at http://moraviansports.com/sports/wbkb/2013-14/releases/20140129nd4jlb.
Top 10 Exciting Games & Fantastic Finishes of 2013-14
#10 – Field Hockey Wins Back to Back Overtime Games
#9 – Softball Walks Off in 10th to Earn Split with Catholic
#8 – Baseball Walks Off Twice to Sweep Catholic
#7 – Football Scores 52 Points in Wild Win over F&M
#6 – Baseball Sweeps Susquehanna in Two Extra Inning Walk Offs
#5 – Men's Basketball Defeats Mt. St. Mary on Half Court Buzzer Beater
#4 – Women's Basketball Tops No. 25 Scranton at Foul Lin in Final Seconds
#3 – TBA
#2 – TBA
#1 – TBA
