MILWAUKEE -- Shataya McComb (Kingston, N.Y.) hit a fade-away 3-point basket at the buzzer to give Alverno College a 56-53 victory over visiting Lakeland College tonight in Reiman Gymnasium.
With .5 seconds remaining Alverno College's Kristen
Speerschneider (New Franken, Wis./Luxemburg-Casco) inbounded from
half court to McComb who turned and shot from the right wing and
hit nothing but net as the buzzer sounded.
"It feels good, too good!" said McComb. "When Coach was drawing up
the play, I was just thinking about the shot I hit in the Northland
game to send it to overtime. When I let it go I knew it was
in."
McComb finished the night with nine points, and made the Inferno's only 3-point basket of the night, which couldn't have come at a better time.
"We executed the play to perfection," Alverno head coach Brad
Duckworth said. "I thought we'd have a little bit more time when I
called the timeout, so when they put .5 on the clock I was happy
because I knew we could turn and shoot the basketball.
"I trust a lot of players on our team to take that shot, but
Shataya has made that shot so many times. She loves that moment.
You go all the way back to the Northland game when she made another
shot like that to go to overtime."
The Inferno (8-9, 5-6 Northern Athletics Conference) trailed
almost the entire second half until Gabby Allen (Milwaukee/Bay
View) scored a layup with 1:09 to play for the 51-49 lead.
Lakeland's Rachel Diedrich (Two Rivers, Wis.) hit a pair of free
throws to tie the game on the next possession, but Alverno's Alicia
Kontowski (South Milwaukee, Wis.) found McComb on the left side of
the paint for another go-ahead score.
Diedrich would miss a layup on the Muskies' (7-10, 4-7) next
possession, forcing the visitors to foul. Kontowski, a 74 percent
career free-throw shooter, missed a pair giving the Muskies one
more chance with 15 seconds left.
Lakeland's Becky Mayo (Gladstone, Mich.) hit a 15-footer with 6
seconds remaining to tie the game at 53-53. The Inferno struggled
to get the ball up the floor forcing Duckworth to call a timeout.
The clock initially read .3, but the officials corrected the time
to .5, leading to the final play.
"It was an unbelievable play," said Duckworth, "but everybody had
to do their part. And how fun. What a great win."
Kontowski recorded a double-double with 15 points and a game-high
14 rebounds, while Allen added 13 points and two blocks. McComb had
a game-high four assists for the Inferno.
Diedrich led the Muskies with a game-high 18 points and also had
10 rebounds.
Alverno travels across town on Thursday for a NAC game with
Wisconsin Lutheran College at 7 p.m. for its next action.