Press Release Written by Sports Information Graduate Intern Mary Kate Rumbaugh
NEWARK, Del. – It came down to the final three seconds of the game as an offensive rebound found Georgian Court University and they would hit the game winning shot to defeat the Wilmington University women's basketball team, 78-77, Wednesday night in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference matchup at the WU Athletics Complex.
It would come down to the wire, as Wilmington (1-12, 1-4 CACC) had a one point lead with 14 seconds left in regulation, but the Lions (4-8, 2-3 CACC) would find a way to get an offensive rebound, finding Jada Atchison in the middle of the paint for the game-winning bucket with 3.4 seconds left in regulation.
Georgian Court would leak out to as large as an 11-point lead in the first quarter, before back-to-back threes by the Wildcats would bring the deficit to seven, but the Lions would end the quarter with a nine point lead.
The Lions would jump out to their largest lead of the game of 12 with 7:42 to play in the second, but Wilmington would go on a 12-2 run within the next four minutes to cut the deficit to two. Tiffany Jackson would cut it to within one in the final 28 seconds, but Georgian Court would get one more shot up before the buzzer to take a 41-38 lead into halftime.
Georgian Court would start the second half on a 13-6 run before the Wildcats could stop the bleeding and get within three thanks to LaShyra Williams who would make it a 56-53 game with 2:08 to play.
Kiara Eubanks would hit three of her five made free throws in the final quarter with only 8:43 to play to make it a 61-60 ballgame. Eubanks would then tie the contest up at 65-65 with 7:28 to play, before giving the Wildcats their first lead of the game since 6:13 left in the first quarter on a made layup.
Kiara Eubanks would give the Wildcats a five-point lead thanks to an and-one with 3:39 left to make it a 75-70 game. With 1:36 left in regulation the Lions would make it a one-point ballgame, before tying it 76-76 with 42 seconds left.
Sabreen Muslim would go to the line for the Wildcats and make one of her two free throws to put Wilmington on top, 77-76, with 42 seconds to go. Georgian Court would have an opportunity with 18 seconds left, but would come up short, giving WilmU the defensive rebound and a timeout. Out of the timeout, full court pressure and a trap resulted in a Wildcats turnover to give the Lions another shot opportunity. The Lions missed the first attempt, but the offensive rebound fell to the Lions where Jada Atchison made the five-foot jumper inside the lane to seal the game with three seconds left.
The Wildcats would finish with three players who recorded a double-double in the contest, including sophomore Kiara Eubanks who finished with 23 points and 10 rebounds, going 9-12 from the free throw line; Sabreen Muslims who recorded 19 points, and 11 rebounds, going 7-9 from the floor; and LaShyra Williams who had 13 points, and 10 rebounds, going 5-6 from the foul line.
Wilmington is back on the court this Saturday when they travel to Dominican in a cross-division matchup. Tip-off is set for 1:00 p.m.
