St. Mary's City, Md. – Senior forward Jamie Roberts (Rockville, Md./Barrie) kept the Capital Athletic Conference playoff hopes alive for the St. Mary's College of Maryland women's basketball team Wednesday night as her layup with 1.7 seconds left gave the Seahawks (11-11, 7-7 CAC) a 61-60 win over host Salisbury University (8-14, 5-8 CAC).
Roberts collected an inbounds pass in the front court in the final five seconds of the game, drove the right side of the lane, and tossed up a scoop shot through a pair of Salisbury defenders. The ball bounced on the rim, and fell through with 1.7 seconds left for the game-winning hoop.
The win improves St. Mary's playoff position as the Seahawks are currently sixth in the conference standings and a half-game behind fifth-place Wesley College (12-10, 7-6 CAC). St. Mary's will take on Wesley in a key match up Saturday afternoon at 2:00 pm in the Michael P. O'Brien Athletic & Recreation Center Arena. The Seahawks are hoping to register the season sweep of Wesley after notching a 69-55 win in Dover on January 17.
For the second straight game and fourth time this season, Roberts tallied 20+ points as she finished the night with 20 points with career-bests of 6 assists and three long-range goals. Sophomore guard Pui Sham (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) and first-year forward Shana Lewis (Bowie, Md./Bowie) also scored in double digits with 13 and 10 points, respectively. Lewis grabbed a team-best eight rebounds as well.
St. Mary's dominated for the majority of the first half until the final 2:51 of the stanza as the Sea Gulls erased an eight-point margin with an 8-0 run capped by junior guard Milan Dry (Baltimore, Md./Dunbar) jumper at 00:39. Sophomore guard Katie McGahagan (Pasadena, Md./Northeast) hauled in the defensive board off the Seahawks' missed field goal but senior guard Chante' McKinney (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) turned it over at 00:16, allowing Lewis to give St. Mary's a 28-26 halftime lead with two seconds remaining in the half.
Sophomore forward Nicole Sisco (Fair Lawn, N.J./Fair Lawn) recorded a double-double on 18 points and game-high 14 rebounds while junior guard Glen Charlton (Landover, Md./Duval) notched 16 points, five boards, and three assists. Dry finished with 10 caroms as the Sea Gulls out-rebounded St. Mary's, 50-33.
With 10:46 left in the game, the Seahawks held a 51-43 advantage as first-year Raven Owens (Annapolis, Md./Severn) nailed a three-point shot. Sophomore guard Tabitha Russell (Lanham, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) knotted the game at 56-56 at 4:04, capping a 13-5 Sea Gull run.
St. Mary's regained the lead at 3:45 on a three-point field goal by Roberts before McGahagan's layup with seven seconds put the Sea Gulls back on top, 60-59.