Women’s Basketball Secures Comeback Victory against Rose-Hulman in HCAC Quarterfinals

The third-seeded Anderson University women's basketball team secured a 75-68 comeback victory against sixth-seeded Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology during the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Tournament Quarterfinals on Saturday in O.C. Lewis Gymnasium.

Anderson (17-9) opened with a 10-4 lead in the first quarter, which included six points from Bella Larrison. The Fightin' Engineers (9-17) recorded a 13-3 run to close the first quarter with a 17-13 lead.

Rose-Hulman held a steady lead for the first half of the second quarter. Leading the Ravens 24-22, the Fightin' Engineers recorded a 7-0 surge to increase the margin to nine. Paige Williamson knocked down a key 3-pointer with 2:03 left in the second quarter to trim the deficit to 33-30. Anderson cut the lead to two before Rose-Hulman pulled ahead to a 38-32 lead at halftime.

Anderson cut the lead to 41-38 with 7:16 left in the third quarter. The Fightin' Engineers responded with another 7-0 run to take a 48-38 lead with 5:17 left in the third quarter, Rose-Hulman's biggest lead of the day. Anderson followed up Rose-Hulman's run with an 8-0 run of its own, cutting the lead to two. Rose-Hulman closed the third quarter with a 53-51 lead.

Izzy Davis made a layup with 8:26 remaining to even the score at 55-all. Larrison and Sophia Reese traded baskets. Davis put Anderson up 59-57 before Rose-Hulman's Katelyn Fennell responded with a 3-pointer to take a 60-59 lead. After Victoria Detraz hit two free throws, Fennell drained another 3-pointer. Maria Godoy Rodriguez added a basket to give Rose-Hulman a 65-61 lead. After Larrison cut the lead to two, Emma Schipp knocked down a 3-pointer to give the Fightin' Engineers a 68-63 lead with 2:52 to go.

Sydney Sierota made a layup to cut the lead to three with 2:36 remaining. The two teams traded possessions twice. Sierota then came up with a steal and took it back for a layup to cut the lead to one. After getting a stop, the Ravens possession went down to seven seconds on the shot clock before Coach Jon Gin called a timeout with 39.6 seconds remaining. On the inbound pass, Detraz received the pass down low and was fouled on the shot. She hit both of her free throws to take a 69-68 lead with 37.5 seconds left. The Ravens continued to get stops and hit their free throws down the stretch. Anderson closed the game on a 12-0 run, which included an 8-for-8 shooting clip from the charity stripe.

"I'm thankful for a very gritty win by our team," Coach Jon Gin said. It wasn't pretty. We had a lot of nervous energy to start the game, but we settled in nicely after halftime. Our seniors really led the way and kept us calm and focused down the stretch. They made some huge plays defensively that sparked enough offense to win the game. We executed really well down the stretch on both ends of the floor and hit some clutch free throws."

Anderson drained 19-of-24 (79.2 percent) shots from the free-throw line while Rose-Hulman hit each of its seven attempts from the charity stripe. The Ravens converted 26-of-71 (36.6 percent) shots from the field while the Fightin' Engineers made 36-of-72 (36.1 percent) attempts from the floor. Anderson outrebounded Rose-Hulman 50-42. The Ravens held a 20-15 advantage on the offensive boards and outscored the Fightin' Engineers 15-13 on second-chance points. Rose-Hulman committed 15 turnovers while Anderson turned the ball over 12 times. The Ravens held a 14-8 advantage in points off turnovers. Rose-Hulman knocked down 9-of-25 (36 percent) shots from 3-point range while Anderson hit 4-of-20 (20 percent) attempts from the perimeter.

Detraz led the Ravens with 19 points, 14 rebounds and two blocks. Larrison provided 17 points, 13 rebounds, three steals and one block. Davis turned in 13 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Sierota contributed 12 points, six assists, and three steals. Williamson tallied eight points, Lauren Smith scored four points and Ashley Pate rounded out the Anderson scoring effort with two points.

Schipp paced the Fightin' Engineers with 18 points and eight rebounds. Fennell and C.K. Gallegos Rodriguez each produced 12 points. Kaia Peterson came up with three steals.

Anderson clashes with second-seeded Franklin College (20-6) in the HCAC Tournament Semifinals on Friday, Feb. 27 at 3 p.m. in Lexington, Ky.