Box Score

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. – It came down to the final possessions of the game, but the Susquehanna women's basketball team prevailed 58-54 over Lycoming in the championship game of the Warriors' Hoops for Hounds Tournament on Monday afternoon.

The Crusaders (4-4) held on to a single-digit lead in the waning minutes of the game to clinch the championship.

Freshman Nikki Komara (Shamokin, Pa./Lourdes Regional) had a double-double with a team-high 18 points and 10 rebounds to go along with a team-high six steals. Catherine Malatack (Narbeth, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) poured in 12 points off the bench and Nicole Gault (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) had a solid all-around effort with seven points and eight rebounds. Forward Jonaida Willaims (Williamsport, Pa./Loyalsock Twp.) added seven points, as well, with seven rebounds, one block and one steal.

Komara was named Tournament MVP and Williams was named to the All-Tournament Team.

The team shot 36.2 percent from the floor and nearly 43 percent from beyond the arc. In what proved to be a key in the victory, SU also shot 84 percent (21-of-25) from the free throw line.

The Warriors (5-4) saw just six points from its bench players and had only 14 points in the paint versus the 22 from Susquehanna.

It was a back-and-forth start to the game and the teams were knotted at six after two Mariah Monahan (Towanda, Pa./Towanda Area) free throws at 15:25. SU then put up back-to-back buckets to take a 10-6 lead and remained up by one, 12-11, at the eight-minute mark of the half.

The lead swapped hands for the next two-and-a-half minutes with neither team taking more than a one-point lead until a Komara layup at 4:45 put Susquehanna in front 20-17. A Malatack three-pointer two minutes later made it a six-point game (25-19) but the Warriors ended the half on a 10-0 run to go into halftime leading 29-25.

Lycoming remained in the lead and held a seven-point advantage (43-36) seven minutes into the second half. The Crusaders trimmed that lead to three (43-40) on Gault's layup at 12:04 and tied the game at 45 on a Komara trey with 9:38 on the clock. Komara's two made free throws roughly a minute later gave Susquehanna its first lead since the 2:03 mark of the first half.

As the game hit the two-minute mark the Crusaders were up just one (52-51) before a three-point play from Williams with 1:15 remaining increased SU's lead to four, 55-51. With 60 seconds to play, it was 55-53 in favor of the Crusaders. Lycoming's Julia Antonelli went to the line for two free throws with 26 seconds remaining but missed the front end. Antonelli connected on her second shot but the Warriors were forced to foul. Williams made both of her free throws at the 22-second mark and her block on a Victoria Siebecker shot with 13 seconds on the clock effectively ended the game.

Susquehanna next travels to Lebanon Valley on Jan. 2 for a 6 p.m. game.