HOBOKEN, N.J. (January 28, 2011) – Junior Jillian Barrett (Philadelphia, Pa.) banked-in a go-ahead three with just .4 seconds remaining in regulation as the Stevens Institute of Technology women's basketball team stunned visiting Utica College, 60-58, at Canavan Arena in Hoboken, N.J. With the win, the Ducks improved to 14-3 overall with a 7-2 league ledger, while Utica fell to 9-8 on the season with a 5-3 mark against conference opponents.
Junior Isaura Guzman (Union City, N.J.) led the Ducks with 12 points and six rebounds, going 5-for-10 from the field, while Barrett and fellow junior Victoria Webber (Silver Spring, Md.) each added 11. Junior guard Dawn Garcia (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and senior center Paige Armstrong (Fair Haven, N.J.) combined for 12 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in the win.
Utica senior forward Jessica Berry (Rome, N.Y.) went on 10-for-18 from the floor, leading all scorers with 23 points and 11 rebounds, while sophomore forward Meghan Fiore (Epping, N.H.) finished with 15 points, on 7-for-11 shooting. Senior guard Devon Croll (Vernon, N.Y.) added six points, while junior guard Katie McGee (Philadelphia, Pa.) chipped in with five points, four rebounds, and four assists in the loss.
The Pioneers raced out to an early seven-point edge, going up 9-2 on a Fiore layup. Still down seven at 11-4 with 14:30 on the clock, the Ducks notched four unanswered on back-to-back Armstrong buckets, but a Stephanie Nara (Frederick, Md.) triple on the other end quickly upped the margin back to six.
Stevens again battled back within two following a Guzman jumper and a Victoria O'Connor (Westwood, N.J.) layup, but a Berry trey put Utica back on top 17-12. Trailing by six at 23-17 with just under five to go in the half, Webber and freshman Avis Benjamin (Queens, N.Y.) tallied consecutive baskets, but another timely Utica triple, this time from Alyssa Filkins (Castleton, N.Y.) kept the Ducks at bay. Still down by four with 27 seconds left in the frame, Guzman buried a three of her own on the Ducks' last possession of the stanza, pulling Stevens within one heading into the intermission.
Fiore would kick-start an 11-4 Utica run to start the second with a layup at 19:34 before a Berry bucket just shy of the 17-minute mark put the Pioneers up 38-30. Needing a rally, the Ducks got just that, stringing together 11 straight points to pull ahead 41-38 with 14:05 to go. Benjamin got things started with a basket before four-consecutive Barrett points followed by a Webber jumper and three-pointer capped of the crucial Stevens run.
Croll responded with a three to deadlock the game at 41 before Berry helped the Pioneers regain the lead with a jumper at 9:53. After a pair of Webber free-throws tied things up at 45, Fiore connected on back-to-back baskets to stake Utica to a four-point edge.
Undaunted, Stevens responded with a Benjamin layup before a Guzman triple following a Spadaro steal put the Ducks back ahead, 50-49. With both teams exchanging baskets down the stretch, the game remained tied at 55 heading in the final minute of play.
Fiore would put the Pioneers up two with a jumper at the 44 second mark, before Garcia knifed into the lane, drawing a foul. The Brooklyn, N.Y. native then calmly converted a pair from the charity stripe to knot the game for the seventh time. After a Ducks' foul with 11 seconds to go, Pioneers' senior Casey Orlando (Haddon Heights, N.J.) knocked down one of two from the line to put the Pioneers back ahead by one.
Following the inbounds, Garcia pushed the ball to the right-side of the Pioneer frontcourt before turning to kick it out to Barrett on the wing. The Philadelphia, Pa. native then hoisted the game-winning triple off the glass with just .4 seconds left in regulation to secure the Ducks' 14 victory of the season.
Stevens returns to action on February 4-5 against conference rivals Alfred University and St. John Fisher College.