ARLINGTON, VA – The York College women's basketball team dropped a heart-breaking 56-54 Capital Athletic Conference contest at first place Marymount University on Saturday afternoon in Arlington, Virginia.
The Spartans are now 16-5 overall and 10-4 in the Capital Athletic Conference. The Saints improve to 18-3 overall and 13-1 in the league as Marymount has now won six straight. The Saints maintain their one-game lead in the CAC as Christopher Newport and Mary Washington are both 12-2 in the league. York is now two games out of second place and three games back of first. The good news for York is that they hold a four-game lead for the fourth seed in the upcoming CAC Tournament.
The game did not start off well for the Green and White as the Saints sprinted out to a 12-4 lead. After a Spartan timeout with the Saints leading 16-8 with 2:05 left, York scored the final three points of the quarter to cut their deficit to five heading into the second ten minutes of play.
The second quarter would prove to be the pivotal quarter of the game again, much like the first time these two teams met in York. The Saints pushed out to 20-14 lead but the Spartans went on a prolonged 12-5 run to push out to a 26-25 lead with 3:46 left in the half. Unfortunately for York, they would not score the remainder of the half as the Saints closed out the stanza on a 12-0 run to take a 37-26 lead to the intermission. That run would prove to be huge late in the very close game.
Turnovers were a huge problem for the Spartans as they committed 17 first half miscues which led to 17 Saint points in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Spartans made it a game in the third quarter as they opened the quarter with an 9-2 run, cutting their deficit to 39-36 3:03 into the quarter. Marymount pushed the lead to five to 44-39 with 3:59 left in the quarter. The Spartans then outscored the Saints 8-1 the rest of the way to take a 47-45 lead to the final quarter of play. York had a 21-8 scoring advantage in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was a defensive slugfest as the teams combined to score 18 points in the final 10 minutes of the game. York held the lead for much of the fourth quarter until the Saints tied the game on a Kievanna Lacey free throw with 3:28 left in the game.
The Saints would take the lead one last time with just over a minute left as Tyffani McQueen cashed out a three pointer from the quarter to give the home team a 55-52 lead. Spartan Sam Hruz (White Marsh, Md./Mercy) was fouled with 36 seconds left and sank both free throws to draw York to within one. York forced a turnover with 30 seconds left and Hruz had a great look from three but the shot just missed and Marymount rebounded. The Spartans looked like they had forced a jump ball on the ensuing rebound but the Saints were awarded a timeout on the play, negating a possible Spartan possession. After back-to-back fouls put Leah Hurst at the line, Hurst missed both and York called a timeout with 10.0 seconds left. York drew up a play for Hruz and the Spartan junior had a contested look as her driving left-handed lay up caught glass and rim but bounced off and was rebounded by the Saints. Miranda Krott split both of her free throws with 2.4 seconds left but York would be unable to get a shot off at the horn.
McQueen paced the Saints as she tallied a game-high 16 points in 33 minutes of work. McQueen was 7-for-12 from the floor including 2-for-3 from three. She added four rebounds and four steals for the Saints. Nicole Viscuso contributed 12 rebounds and nine rebounds for Marymount while Lacey chipped in with 13 points, four rebounds, four assists, five steals and two blocked shots. McQueen, Viscuso and Lacey combined to score 41 of the Saints' 56 points.
York was led by the duo of Sarah Shearer (York, Pa./West York) and Morgan Golec (Abingdon, Md./Patterson Mill) as they both tallied 10 points. Shearer was 5-for-9 from the floor and also had three rebounds. Golec was 4-for-8 from the floor including 1-for-2 from three and 1-for-3 from three. Golec led the Spartans with nine rebounds in the setback. Hruz added nine points, two rebounds, three assists, three steals and a blocked shot. Beth Wiseley (Macungie, Pa./Emmaus) added eight points, three assists and a steal for York.
Turnovers played a huge role in the loss for the Spartans as York committed 29 turnovers, their second highest total of the year. That led to 24 points for the Saints. Marymount also controlled the glass, outrebounding York 34-28. The Saints had a whopping 20 offensive rebounds as they attempted 14 more field goals in the game.
The Spartans shot a season-best 51.2% from the field. It is the first time this year they have been over 50% from the floor. The Spartans went 4-for-7 (57.1%) from three and 6-for-9 (66.7%) from the free throw line.
Marymount shot 35.1% from the floor, 35.3% (6-for-17) from three and 10-for-18 (55.6%) from the free throw line.
The game closes out a very challenging five games in ten days' stretch as York finished with a mark of 3-2 during the stretch. The Spartans begin a key two game home stand on Wednesday evening when they host St. Mary's College in a CAC contest. Game time is slated for 6:00 pm at Charles Wolf Gymnasium.