The Keuka College women's basketball team entered the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) postseason tournament on a roll, winners of six in a row and eight out of nine, with the only setback coming against SUNY Cobleskill, the Storm's opponent in Tuesday night's NEAC quarterfinal contest.
After trailing most of the game, including a 16-point second-half deficit, the Storm clawed back from the big deficit and only trailed 48-47 with 15 seconds left after Cobleskill missed the front end of a one-and-one.
With the season on the line, sophomore Jessica Bandrowski (Center Moriches, NY/Center Moriches) drove the lane late hoping to put the defending NEAC champions from Keuka up for good.
Instead of shooting, Bandrowski delivered an accurate pass to sophomore Casey Chamberlain (Perry, NY/Perry), who scored on a layup with 3.2 seconds remaining to cap a furious rally as Keuka overcame a bad shooting night to defeat SUNY Cobleskill 50-48 Tuesday night inside a raucous Weed Physical Arts Center.
"I was definitely nervous at first, but we go through practicing those game situations so I knew I could make it," Chamberlain said of her first-career game-winning basket.
"I was just trying to get whatever the defense gave me. I didn't think Jess was going to pass me the ball, I thought she was going to shoot it herself, so it was an unexpected pass and I just did what I could. This feels great!"
Following a '3' from Victoria Carter, Cobleskill led 48-45 with 1:46 remaining before sophomore Danielle Gravel (Sidney, NY/Sidney) knifed her way through the lane and hit a scoop shot to pull the No. 2 Storm (17-5) within one with 90 seconds left.
No. 3 Cobleskill (14-12) missed two jumpers and the front end of a one-and-one, giving the Storm possession with 15 seconds left. Chamberlain banked in her layup and completed the crucial three-point play and Bandrowski then stole the ensuing inbounds play as the defending NEAC champions advance into Saturday's semifinals.
Keuka will play No. 1 Penn State-Harrisburg (19-6, 17-1 NEAC) at 2 p.m. at SUNYIT in Utica, with the winner advancing into the NEAC title game at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon back at SUNYIT.
Chamberlain finished with 10 points and five rebounds while Gravel added 25 points, 4 steals and 3 rebounds for Keuka, which trailed 34-21 at halftime.
"Usually when we're down like that we never come back, but [senior] Morgan [Engelbert] just gave us a pep talk at halftime, and none of us wanted this to be the last game this year," said Gravel, who earlier in the day earned first-team All-NEAC honors.
The Storm deficit grew to 37-21 early in the second half, but a 9-0 run pulled Keuka within six, 37-31 with 11:43 remaining.
Cobleskill pushed the lead to 39-31 before sophomore Taylor Szwec (Candor, NY/Candor) and Chamberlain each sunk a pair of free throws.
Bandrowski, held scoreless for the first 30 minutes, then went off, hitting a pull-up jumper and swishing a '3' to pull Keuka within 41-40. Gravel made a pull-up for a 42-41 lead, its first lead of the game.
Cobleskill responded with layups from Chelcy Moore and Kady Porterfield for a 45-42 lead before Bandrowski drained a '3' to knot the score at 45-all with 4:48 remaining. Neither team scored until Carter's trey, which set the stage for the end of game dramatics as Keuka picked up its seventh straight win, and ninth win in 10 games.
The Storm struggled in the first half, falling behind 8-0 and 11-2 before using a 10-2 run to trail only 13-12.
Gravel scored all 10 points during the run and had her best-scoring half of her Keuka career, scoring 20 of Keuka's 21 first-half points. Chamberlain, who made a free throw to knot the score at 13-all, was the only other member of the Storm to score in the half.
"I was just on in the half, I can't explain it, everything was just going in," Gravel said after her fourth 20-plus point effort of the season.
"This comeback win is a big lift for us, this showed that no matter how far we're down, we can come back and still win any game."
Moore finished with 18 rebounds and nine points, Porterfield chipped in 10 rebounds and eight points and Heidi Anderson added 20 points and six rebounds for the Tigers, who committed 26 turnovers.
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