NEWPORT NEWS, VA – The York College women's basketball squad did the improbable on Tuesday night in the opening round of the Capital Athletic Conference championship tournament in Christopher Newport University. The Spartans overcame an 18-point first half deficit to stun the Captains, 73-65, to advance to the CAC semifinals for the tenth straight season.
The Spartans improve to 12-14 overall while the Captains season comes to a close at 17-9. The win by York snaps the Captains' five-game win streak and halted the Spartans' three-game skid.
The Spartans were incredibly lucky to even be in the game in the second half after a rough first 15 minutes of the game. York led 8-7 with 15:22 left in the stanza but then the Captains then fashioned a 21-2 run that pushed the CNU lead to 18 with 6:21 remaining in the half. The Captain run covered 9:01 as York turnovers helped fuel the CNU run.
Just when it looked like the Spartans were on the precipice of getting blown out, York responded with a 14-3 run to end the half as the Captains took a 31-24 lead to the break. It could have been so much worse for the Spartans as they committed 13 turnovers in the opening 20 minutes. The Captains turned those mistakes into 15 points as they pushed out to the seven point halftime lead.
York sprinted out of the break and quickly cut the lead to two on a Sam Hruz (White Marsh, Md./Mercy) lay up just 2:05 into the half. The Captains answered with a 13-3 run as the lead grew to 46-34 with 14:25 left as, again, the Spartans looked like they were on the edge of getting run out of the building.
The Captains maintained the lead between nine and ten points over the next three minutes before the Spartans made their move. The Green and White went on a 14-1 run as freshman Morgan Kuehne (Red Lion, Pa./Red Lion) kick started the spurt with a layup at the 12:21 mark. The run featured three straight traditional three point plays with two coming from Hruz and the third coming from Katie Wagner (Glen Rock, Pa./Susquehannock). That run gave the Spartans a 51-49 lead.
The Captains would not roll over as they came right back at the Spartans with five straight points of their own to take a 54-51 lead. Sophomore Morgan Golec (Abingdon, Md./Patterson Mill) cashed out a three on the wing and Wagner hit a running layup to put the Spartans up two. This was a part of the game in which the lead yo-yoed back and forth as the teams battled for control of the game.
Camry Green hit a pair of free throws with 3:15 left in the game to give the Captains their last lead of the night at 63-62. Wassel then hit a lay up off a beautiful feed from Hruz as York took the one point lead. After a turnover from the Captains, Hruz hit a lay up off a pass from Brianna Bisci (Bangor, Pa./Bangor) and the game-clinching run was on. The Spartans scored 11 of the final 13 points of the game to earn their first win in the Freeman Center in school history. The Captains don't lose very often at home as they are now 34-4 in their last three seasons in their building.
The key was ball security in the second half as York committed just six miscues in the second half, choking off the Captains' fast break ability off turnovers. York also shot 58.1% from the floor in the second half en route to the win.
Hruz led the Green and White with a career-high 22 points, as the sophomore was incredible in the win. She was 8-for-10 from the floor including 1-for-1 from three. She made 5-of-6 from the line while she also pulled in nine rebounds, dished out five assists, notched three steals and blocked a shot in 31 minutes of play. Senior Shea Wassel (North Wales, Pa./Lansdale Catholic) added 18 points and eight points in her 28 minutes of play. Wassel was 7-for-15 from the floor and 4-for-6 from the line in the win. Wagner was the third Spartan in double figures with 12 points. She was 5-for-9 from the floor and 2-for-4 from the line. Golec added nine points, four rebounds, four assists and a steal while Bisci had a great floor game with seven points, four rebounds, five assists and just one turnover in her 34 minutes.
Green closed out her historic CNU career with another double-double as she recorded 13 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. She was 4-for-10 from the floor and 5-for-8 from the line. Devon Byrd was the other Capitan in double figures with 10 points. Sam Porter added six points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Captains.
Spartan head coach Betsy Witman was thrilled with the performance of her very young squad.
"We played so well after a very rough start," said the Spartan head coach. "We really stayed composed and just chipped away at their big lead. Getting it to single digits before halftime really gave us a boost of confidence for the second half. I am not sure I can express how proud I am of this team and of their effort."
The Spartans finished the game shooting 52.9% from the field. That is their best shooting performance of the season and just the second time all year they have been over 50%. The Green and White went 5-of-12 from three (41.7%), as it was the fifth time they have been over 40% from distance this year. The Spartans were solid when they needed to be at the free throw line, making 14-of-22 in the win.
The Captains shot 33.3% for the game while they made just 6-of-27 (22.2%) from distance. CNU went 13-of-20 (65%) from the stripe.
The Captains held a big 44-36 edge on the glass including a staggering 22 offensive rebounds. CNU held a 16-9 margin in second chance points but York did a good amount of damage in the lane as they outscored their hosts 40-28 in the paint.
After giving up 15 points off turnovers in the first half, York surrendered just five points off miscues in the second stanza.
The Spartans will take to the road again on Thursday night when they travel to top seeded Salisbury University for a CAC semifinal contest. Tip time at the Maggs Center is set for 6:00 pm.