Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Army
Buzzer-Beater by Brown Lifts Bucknell Women's Basketball to 50-47 OT Win Over Army in PL Tournament Quarterfinals
3/8/2008 7:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
March 8, 2008
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Amanda Brown hit a 3-pointer from the right wing with 0.7 seconds left in overtime to give the fifth-seeded Bucknell women's basketball team a 50-47 victory over fourth-seeded Army in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals Saturday at Christl Arena. Brown tallied a game-high 19 points, including 13 in the second half and overtime, as the Bison advanced to the semifinals for the fifth time in seven years.
Bucknell (14-15), which won all three meetings with the Black Knights this season, will face top-seeded American Sunday at 1 p.m. Army, which was led by a combined 34 points from Enright and Alex McGuire, completed its season 18-12.
Much of the game was a low-scoring affair where neither team could get its offense going, but the final minutes of regulation and overtime were thrilling as Enright tied the game at 39-all with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer of her own in the final seconds of regulation.
The Bison trailed 31-26 midway through the second half, but held Army without a field goal for more than seven minutes as they took a 33-31 lead on a Brown layup on an in-bounds play with just over four minutes to play. It was the first of three straight field goals for Brown.
Enright hit the second of her three 3-pointers to put Army up 36-33 with 3:30 to play, but Brown connected on a pair of jumpers to give Bucknell the lead once again at 37-36.
Bucknell continued to lead by the same margin with one minute left. Army took possession of the ball, but Enright missed a long jumper from the left wing that would have put the Black Knights up with 35 seconds remaining. Brown grabbed the rebound and gave the ball to Kesha Champion, who was promptly fouled. The 75 percent free throw shooter made both free throws to put the Bison up 39-36.
McGuire then turned the ball over near midcourt on Army's next possession leading to another free throw try for Champion. She missed the front end of the one-and-one, giving the Black Knights one more chance. Enright missed her first 3-point try, but Erin Anthony corralled an offensive rebound, leading to Enright's contested game-tying 3-pointer with 5.8 on the clock.
Brown continued her hot shooting in overtime, scoring on Bucknell's first possession. The Bison extended that lead out to 47-41, following Joyce Novacek's second layup in overtime. She finished with six points and four rebounds after battling foul trouble much of the game.
Bucknell's six-point cushion, one shy of its largest in the contest, held up entering the final minute of overtime, but Margaree King, who had been 0-for-6 from the field to that point, hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to make the score 47-44.
Novacek was then fouled on two separate occasions and missed three free throws on two separate trips to the line. McGuire scored on a short jumper in between. After Novacek missed twice in her second trip to the line, Army took possession of the ball down by just one point.
McGuire grabbed an offensive rebound on the ensuing possession and was fouled on the putback with 10 seconds remaining. She had made two free throws in the waning seconds of a 66-65 Army victory over Bucknell two years ago. This time she made only the first of two to tie the game at 47. Ashton Sprouse, who totaled three rebounds in just five minutes off the bench, grabbed the rebound and gave the ball to Brown. A screen by Champion freed Brown of King near midcourt and a shot fake sent McGuire flying past before she connected on the game-winner from the right wing.
Brown and Champion combined for 32 points on 13 of 31 shooting for Bucknell. Enright and McGuire totaled 34 points on 14 of 38 shooting for Army. The rest of the Bison were 7 of 28, while the rest of the Black Knights were 2 of 24.
The opening minutes of the first half were low scoring as the teams combined for 14 points in the first seven minutes of play, with a pair of 3-pointers by Brown giving the Bison an early 8-6 advantage. Bucknell limited Army to one field goal in a span of nearly nine minutes, opening up a 15-8 advantage. However, a 25-minute delay due to a leak in the roof with 7:29 left in the stanza slowed the Bison down.
Army came out of the delay with a 6-0 run, capped by a 3-pointer from the left corner by Enright that brought the Black Knights to within 15-14. All six of the points were tallied in just over a minute.
Bucknell, which shot 22.2 percent in the first 20 minutes, and 33.9 percent overall, managed two field goals over the final 12 minutes of the first half with all five of Hope Foster's first-half points coming during that span. Her turnaround jumper with just under five minutes on the clock were the lone points for the Bison following the delay.
Army, which connected on 32.0 percent of its field goals in the first stanza, and 25.8 overall, was led by Enright and McGuire in the first half as the pair of All-Patriot League performers accounted for seven of the Black Knights' eight field goals.
Bucknell was outrebounded 52-42, but Foster pulled down a game-high 11 boards for her 28th career double-figure rebounding game. She moved into third place in Bison history in rebounds with 883 and is now just 19 shy of tying the program record. She finished with eight points and a pair of impressive blocks before fouling out in overtime. Enright led the Black Knights with nine rebounds, while Anthony added eight.
Novacek and fellow freshman Cosima Higham were strong inside players for Bucknell, which battled foul trouble most of the game. Higham totaled two points and five rebounds and provided much-needed energy in her 23 minutes off the bench.
While the Bison took care of the ball, committing just 12 turnovers, they struggled from the free throw line, making just 6 of 17 attempts. Foster and Champion were a combined 6-for-9, while Novacek, Higham and Laruen Schober combined to shoot 0-for-8.
The overtime win improved Bucknell's Patriot League Tournament overtime record to 2-0, while it was the program record-tying fourth overtime game of the season for the Bison.
Bucknell's defense, which limited Army to 17 percent shooting in the second half, held the Black Knights to 140 points in three meetings this year. It is the fourth time the Bison have swept three meetings from a Patriot League opponent.
Champion, who registered 13 points and seven rebounds, moved to within 16 points of becoming the 17th Bucknell player with 1,000 points in her career.
Bucknell was 1-1 against American, its semifinal opponent during the regular season, with each team winning on the road. The Bison have never faced the Eagles, who defeated Colgate 70-46 in Saturday's quarterfinals, in the Patriot League Tournament.
