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NEWARK, Del. - - Trailing by as many as 17 points in the second half, the Wilmington University staged an epic comeback to take down the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference South Division leaders in USciences, 75-67, on Tuesday night at the WU Athletics Complex.
Not only did he comeback win snap a three-game losing streak for the Wildcats (7-12, 4-6 CACC) this season, it snapped a 13-game losing streak to the Devils (16-4, 9-2 CACC), not having beaten their opponents from Philadelphia since the 2009-10 season. USciences is ranked fifth in this week's D2SIDA Women's Basketball East Region Media Poll.
The Devils came out of the gates and shot 7-of-17 from beyond the three-point arc, taking a 16-7 lead after the first quarter and a 32-18 lead at the halftime break. A 6-3 start to the third quarter put the visitors up by their largest margin, 38-21, with 8:00 minutes showing on the clock.
That's when the Wildcats began to play.
LaShyra Williams went on a personal 6-0 run to get to within 11 before Jocelyn Rodriguez sparked another 8-0 run and an Ebonee Dixon layup brought the Wildcats to within 41-35. The Wildcats' spark continued, as they ended the quarter on another 5-0 spurt to close to within 46-44 after three quarters of play.
Jasmine Lee was the catalyst for the Wildcats in the fourth quarter, as she tied the game with the first possession, 46-46. Macy Robinson hit a three-pointer to put the game on a seesaw and Lee scored seven straight points for the Wildcats take the lead for good, 58-54.
Robinson, Williams, and Jocelyn Rodriguez continued the momentum started by Lee with free throws and layups to push the Wildcats lead out to 65-54 with 4:09 to play in regulation.
An 11-3 Devils' run brought the visitors back to within 68-65 with 59 seconds left, but the Wildcats went 7-of-8 from foul line in the final minute to pull off the comeback.
Lee came off the bench to score a season high 24 points on 7-of-12 shooting, adding 9-of-10 from the charity stripe. Williams pitched in 15 points, seven rebounds, two assists, and three steals while Rodriguez scored 11 points with six rebounds and four assists. Jamiere Jefferies led the team with nine rebounds on the night.
The Wildcats shot 16-of-26 from the floor in the second half (61.5 percent), hitting their lone three-pointer, while also going 24-of-32 from the foul line (75.0 percent). The Wildcats went 27-of-42 from the foul line for the game, compared to the 11-of-12 for the Devils.
The Wildcats take to the road for their next two games, heading to Holy Family for another CACC South Division contest on Saturday. The women start the doubleheader with a 1:00 p.m. tip-off.
