DALLAS, Pa. (Dec. 18, 2014) – The Drew University women's basketball team survived a thrilling road contest at Misericordia University, 56-55, on Thursday afternoon in non-conference action as the Cougars' just missed a last-second game-winning shot attempt.
 
Sophomore guard Hannah Miller led the Rangers with 18 points on 8-of-18 shooting and added six rebounds and four steals, while senior guard Breana Wilson tossed in 14 with four rebounds and three steals.
 
The contest came down to the very last possession as Misericordia took control of the ball with 55 seconds left and was fouled on the floor as the Cougars entered the bonus. Misericordia's Niki Baro made both ends of the one-and-one to cut the Drew lead to 56-55. Drew called a timeout to plan its possession with a nine-second shot clock differential. The shot was no good to give the Cougars the ball with 7.2 seconds left after a timeout.
 
The game-winning attempt was taken with five seconds left and the ball bounced twice off the rim before falling off and into the hands of Miller for the Drew rebound as the horn sounded. Drew improved to 6-2 overall while Misericordia fell to 0-9.
 
The Rangers had to fight hard to take a lead into halftime. Sophomore guard Courtney Trzasko got Drew on the board with a three-pointer, and Wilson followed with one of her own and a good jumper to give the Rangers an early 8-3 lead.
 
Low shooting percentages plagues both teams during the opening 10 minutes, and the Cougars' rebounding advantage aided in tying the contest at 13-13 with 8:40 to play in the first half. Misericordia would take a 19-17 lead with 6:51 left, but Miller answered for the Rangers with a trey and Trzasko scored on a layup on their possession to take a 22-19 lead. Freshman Haley Scheuer completed a 7-0 Drew run with a jumper with 5:21 left.
 
The shooting percentages picked up for both sides down the stretch of the first half as Wilson, Trzasko and Miller led Drew to taking the 32-28 lead into the intermission.
 
The second half began with a quick 6-0 Misericordia run to tie the game and eventually take a 34-32 lead. The Rangers, however, promptly countered with an 8-0 run, featuring two jumpers by sophomore forward Ryan Jackson and 4-of-4 free throw shooting by Wilson and junior Courtney Stephens. The Rangers stretched their lead to 40-34 before a Cougars jumper halted the scoring spurt.
 
A Wilson jump shot, followed by a Wilson steal and Miller made bucket extender the Rangers' advantage to 47-38, their largest lead at that point, with 11:40 remaining in the game. The 15-4 Drew run prompted a Misericordia timeout.
 
The Cougars' plan formulated during the timeout was executed the perfection. Misericordia attacked the Drew zone defense with high arching passes to the Cougars' Justine Seely, who spurred a 9-1 Misericordia run with all nine points. The offensive spike, paired with some cold shooting from the Rangers set up the exciting finish. Drew led 54-53 with two minutes to play. The big bucket came from Jackson with 1:33 left to put Drew up 56-53.
 
Jackson finished with eight points and seven rebounds. Seely led the Cougars with a monster double-double of 23 points and 17 rebounds.
 
The Rangers return to action on Monday, Dec. 29 at 4:00 p.m. at the Amherst Holiday Tournament to play the host school, currently ranked No. 4 in the nation. Drew plays on back-to-back days, facing SUNY Canton on Tuesday at 12:00 p.m.