Jan. 27, 2010

Box Score

CLARION - Megan Hoffman hit a 3-pointer out of a scrum as time expired to lift Mercyhurst to a 61-58 win at Clarion in PSAC-West women's basketball action Wednesday night at Tippin Gym.

Mercyhurst (12-5 overall, 4-1 PSAC-West) got the ball back with 13 seconds to play after a charging call on Clarion's Rachel Skolny negated a Skolny basket that would have given Clarion (10-8, 1-4) the lead.

The Lakers then called timeout with eight seconds to play, and the Golden Eagles played solid defense and nearly tied up Mercyhurst's Amy Achesinski in the lane. But Achesinski was able to secure the ball, roll over and find an open Hoffman at the top of the circle. The sophomore then buried the game-winning shot hitting nothing but net.

The game was a barnburner throughout the second half after Clarion led by seven, 31-24, at halftime.

Mercyhurst quickly tied the score at 33 three minutes into the second half, and from that point on neither team led by more than four points with the lead changing hands five times to go along with five ties.

Clarion grabbed its biggest lead after the 33-all deadlock at 50-46 on a Rachel Graeff 3-pointer with 8:28 left before Mercyhurst answered with a 7-0 run capped by an Achesinski layup with 5:15 left that put the Lakers up 53-50.

The Golden Eagles answered with a 6-0 run of their own to take a 56-53 lead on a Bethany Koch layup with 3:41 left before Mercyhurst tied the game at 56 on a Dana Banda 3-pointer with 3:17 to go. A Koch layup at the 1:36 mark put Clarion up one last time before an Achesinski jumper tied the game at 58 with 34 seconds left.

With a five-second differential between the shot clock and the game clock, Clarion ran a play that got Skolny open for an apparent layup. But the basket was waved off for the offensive foul.

Achesinski led all scorers with 26 points for Mercyhurst to go along with nine rebounds. Samantha Loadman was the only other Laker in double digits with 11 points to go with seven boards.

Koch paced Clarion with 19 points, six rebounds and three steals. Lizzie Suwala added 14 points, seven rebounds and three assists, her 14th straight double-digit contest, while Courtney Healy chipped in with 10 points and six rebounds. Rachel Graeff chipped in five points and five assists off the bench.

Clarion returns to action at 1 p.m. Saturday when it hosts Edinboro. Mercyhurst is also back in action Saturday when its travels to California for a 1 p.m. game.

NOTES - The game-winning shot for Mercyhurst marked the first time in six years that Clarion has lost on an opponents shot in the last 10 seconds. The last time before Wednesday was Jan. 11, 2004, when Bloomsburg's Dominque Deveaux hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left in overtime to beat the Golden Eagles 82-81.