SELINSGROVE, PA - Sydney Weyant's game-winning layup with 0.5 seconds left in overtime lifted an elated Susquehanna women's basketball squad to a monumental 72-70 win at Cahtolic Wednesday night. The River Hawks hung on after leading by 15 points in the fourth quarter, as well as playing the entire overtime session without
Julia Roth and
Carly George, who fouled out. The victory gives the third-place River Hawks (19-3, 12-3 Landmark) a season-high eight-game win streak and narrowing the Landmark standings gap to one game on second-place Catholic (16-6, 13-2 Landmark).
HOW IT WENT DOWN
- Junior Annie Greek made 17 first-half points with five 3-pointers to lead all scorers at halftime as SU led CUA 35-28 at the break.
- The River Hawks kept rolling in the third quarter with a game-high 22 points in the frame to extend its lead to 57-42 entering the fourth quarter.
- Despite the big lead, the Cardinals were undaunted, having overcome a double-digit fourth-quarter deficit to defeat Susquehanna one month ago, 66-62.
- The home team quickly swung the momentum, outscoring the River Hawks in the final quarter, 21-6. Despite the big comeback, the Cardinals never led after being up 4-3 in the early going.
- Tied at 61-61, George made a go-ahead layup with just over one minute to play. On Catholic's last possession, George committed a foul, her fifth of the game to finish her evening. This led to McKenna Karlson nailing a pair of free throws to tie it up at 63 all with 25 seconds to play.
- Susquehanna managed to get a shot off on its final possession of regular, but Zoie Maffei's midrange jumper hit the back iron.
- George's full foul total was preceded by Julia Roth reaching five fouls also with just under six minutes to play in regulation. At that point, the River Hawks led, 61-55.
- Maffei got the first points of overtime on a layup to lead 65-63. Catholic tied it again on two free throws on as many trips to the line before Weyant gave SU a three-point lead on an and-one layup.
- Catholic again tied the game with one free throw and a layup thanks to Carly Catania's getting her own rebound on a missed free throw, leading to Alexa Kenah's game-tying layup.
- A bruised, but not broken River Hawks team kept chugging. With both teams at five fouls entering overtime, first-year Delaney Chilcote was fouled with under one minute to play. She drilled both free throws, her only two points on the night, as the ball returned to Catholic.
- The Cardinals called on a familiar name to tie it up again as Anna Scoblick connected on a layup on their ensuing possession.
- With the shot clock and game clock nearly identical in the final 30 seconds, the River Hawks drained as much time as they could. Julia Pinckert twisted and turned her way down in the paint to take a fadeaway shot to beat the shot clock. It rimmed out, but an alert Weyant grabbedit and drove to the basket for the go-ahead layup. After replay review, the call was upheld, giving Susquehanna 72-70 lead with 0.5 on the clocks.
- Catholic took a timeout to advance the ball. The long inbounds from the far sideline reached Anna Scoblick down the right side, but her desperation shot hit off the side of the backboard to send Susquehanna into a frenzy.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Susquehanna's victory marks its first win over Catholic since Feb. 8, 2018 in a 51-39 decision at home. Henceforth, this is head coach Gabby Holko's first victory over the Cardinals in 11 tries dating back to the 2019-20 season. It's also her 102nd career win as a head coach.
- The victory marks a seismic shift for the River Hawks, avenging their defeat to the Cardinals back on Jan. 14. More importantly, Susquehanna entered Wednesday in third place in the Landmark standings, one game ahead of Elizabethtown, who they also split in the season series. They are now two games up on the Blue Jays and one game behind Catholic, who still need to play Elizabethtown and first-place Scranton in the regular season.
- Carly George led all scorers with 22 points and seven rebounds, making 10-of-12 from the floor and finishing one point more than Scoblick, despite playing just 31 minutes to the Catholic hoopster's 41. She now has 610 rebounds lifetime, while surpassing 700 career points, now with 702.
- Susquehanna's leader in minutes was Pinckert, who finished with ten points and seven boards in 42 minutes of play. She also added a game-high five assists.
- Greek's 17 first-half points fueled her to a game total of 19. Her five threes puts her at 40 on the season, tying for eighth all-time at Susquehanna in one season alongside former teammate Kenzie Selvaggi's 2023-24 total.
- Julia Roth played 25 minutes, but not before logging a game-high 11 rebounds. Roth now has 611 career rebounds.
- Weyant's game-winner gave her seven points on the night, while Zoie Maffei turned in a double-digit scoring game with 10 points.
- Catholic led in rebounds, 42-38, including a 19-13 lead in offensive boards. Despite this, the River Hawks led 16-9 in second chance points with their 13 offensive rebounds.
- Susquehanna outshot the Cardinals at 43.5 percent (27-for-62) to the home team's 38.5 percent (25-for-65). Both sides made seven 3-pointers, while the River Hawks finished 11-of-14 at the free throw line to Catholic's 13-of-20.
UP NEXT FOR THE RIVER HAWKS
- Susquehanna takes its momentum to first-place and number-two-ranked Scranton on the road this Saturday at 2 p.m.
- After Saturday the River Hawks have two more Landmark games against Goucher Wednesday, Feb. 18 and Drew Saturday, Feb. 21, both at home. A win in any three of their remaining games will give them their first 20-win season since 1994-95. Their eight-game win streak also marks the most since that time.
- Susquehanna's 19 wins is the most under Coach Holko's watch and the most since their 18-9 season in 2023-24.
