MEADVILLE, Pa. – The Allegheny women's basketball team overcame a 16 point first half deficit, and junior Daryl Ford hit a lay in at the buzzer, to give the Gators a 61-59 victory over the Cougars of Misericordia Saturday night to take home the Allegheny Invitational championship.

After surviving their first round game Friday night, Allegheny started off Saturday's championship game at an anemic pace, missing 15 of their first 16 shots. If that weren't enough, the Cougars came out firing on all cylinders, and just six and a half minutes into the game Allegheny found themselves down 15-2.

The Gators start would go from bad to worse as the first half went on. As Allegheny's shooting woes continued, Misericordia kept shooting lights out. With just under six minutes left in the first half, the Gators would find themselves down 24-8. With such a tall mountain to climb, Allegheny needed a spark to get their offense rolling; insert freshman Kendall Hoffman.

Hoffman would hit a shot in the paint to cut the lead to 12, and then find tournament Most Valuable Player, sophomore Erica Restich for a three to climb back within 11 after a Cougar bucket. After a missed shot by Misericordia, Hoffman would run the length of the floor and invigorate the crowd with an old fashioned three point play to get Allegheny within eight.

After trading a couple of baskets, the Gators would go into the break down just eight, 30-22. Allegheny shot just 30 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, going 9-30; while Misericordia shot and outstanding 44.8 percent from the field, including 4-7 from three.

Allegheny came out of the break looking to wipe the slate clean and start fresh. Ford and fellow junior Heidi Goeller would quickly get back-to-back layups, giving the Gators much needed momentum. The Cougars would try to pull away, as they did in the first half, but each time Allegheny would have an answer.

The Gators would chip away, point by point, until finally with 4:35 left in regulation Allegheny would tie the game for the first time since it was 0-0 on a lay in by junior Ann Ryan. However, just as soon as it looked like Allegheny might pull off an enormous comeback, Misericordia fired right back, scoring the next seven points to go up 59-52 with 2:38 to play.
It seemed as if the Gators magic had run out, but as they showed just one night prior, never count out the Allegheny Gators. Led by Ford and Restich, Allegheny would answer with a seven point run of their own, tying the game with less than one minute to play.

After a missed free throw by Hoffman, Misericordia had possession with less than 40 seconds to go. The Cougars would find themselves with two chances to take the lead late as Katie Drayton missed two jumpers in succession. The Gators would finally get their hands on the ball as Hoffman reeled in the second Drayton rebound, and Allegheny would call a timeout to set up for the game's final possession in regulation.

Just one night earlier Allegheny found themselves in the same position, as Restich would take the ball off the inbound, make a nice up and under move at the elbow and lay in the game winning shot over Westminster with eight seconds remaining.

Again the inbound pass would go to Restich, only this time the defense would crash all around her. With two defenders in her face, she made a quick drop off pass to Goeller on the wing. Goeller with the seconds ticking away pulled the trigger, and hit it off the front iron with the shot. Restich grabbed the offensive board and couldn't tip it in; however camped down low, Ford would be Johnny on the spot, grabbing her third offensive rebound and laying in the game winner as time expired.

Ford would end the contest with 12 points, all in the second half, and nine boards as Allegheny would improve their record to 3-0 on the season. Restich finished with a game high 18 points; while Goeller, who was also named to the All-Tournament team, chipped in with eight points and five rebounds, as she would hold pre-season All-American Christine Marks to just six points and five boards on 2-9 shooting.

The Gators will be off until Tuesday, when they will host Washington and Jefferson in a non-conference tilt at 6:00 pm.