Golden Flyers rally from 24 down to win 69-67
» BOXSCORE | » CUMULATIVE STATS
WEST CHILI, N.Y. (Jan. 11, 2007) -- Freshman Kelly Dunne swished a desparation three-point basket as time expired Thursday to lift Nazareth to a 69-67 come-from-behind victory over RIT in a consolation game of the JPMorgan Chase Scholarship Tournament.
The victory improved the eighth-seeded Golden Flyers' record to 5-7 overall. Fourth-seeded RIT dropped to 7-5. Nazareth plays again Saturday in the fifth-place game at Brockport at 1 p.m. RIT plays in the seventh-place game at 11 a.m.
"I've never hit a shot like that before," said Dunne, a freshman guard from East Northport, N.Y. "When it left my hand I wasn't sure if it was going to count."
Dunne's shot capped an improbable comeback for the Golden Flyers, who trailed by as many as 24 points with as little as 16:45 left to play. An RIT scoring drought that lasted nearly nine minutes enabled the Golden Flyers to work their way back.
A basket by RIT's Joanna Dobeck with 16:45 left gave the Tigers a seemingly commanding 59-35 lead. Nazareth, however, would go on to allow just three RIT field goals the rest of the way while outscoring the Tigers 34-8 the rest of the way.
The Tigers were still comfortably ahead, 63-44, following a basket by Ramata Diallo with 12:18 left. Nazareth then rattled off 10 straight points -- two baskets by freshman Rachel Pirozzolo and three-point field goals by Dunne and Whitney Smith -- to close within 63-54 with 5:32 to play.
Margot Sandy broke the RIT drought with a three-point field goal to stretch the Tiger lead back to double digits, 66-54, with 4:46 left.
Nazareth kept charging back. Sarah Homer nailed a three-pointer, Smith added a basket and Ali Sharpe sank two free throws to make it 66-61 with 2:50 left. Dunne then canned a three-pointer with :48 left to trim the lead to two. After RIT missed a shot, Sharpe was fouled while grabbing the rebound and hit the resulting two free throws with :19 left to tie the score at 66-66.
RIT freshman Jackie Hammond hit one of two free throws with :06 to allow the Tigers to regain the lead at 67-66. Nazareth called timeout at midcourt with 4.4 seconds left. After Dunne inbounded, the ball was knocked away and finally retrieved by Dunne, who launched her desperation shot from about 25 feet away. The ball left her hand just before the horn sounded and reached the bottom of the net to win the game.
RIT dominated the first half by making 19 of 31 shots from the field to build a commanding 49-29 advantage. Dunne fueled Nazareth's second-half comeback by making three three-pointers. Freshman Jamie Malloy also scored all eight of her points in the last 20 minutes.
Smith posted game highs in points (19) and rebounds (11). Sharpe had 14 points and seven rebounds and Dunne finished with 11. Dobeck had 15 for the Tigers and Sandy had 12.
Newspaper Box Score Nazareth vs RIT 01/11/07 1:30 p.m. at Roberts Wesleyan, Rochester, N.Y. At Roberts Wesleyan, Rochester, N.Y. NAZARETH 69, RIT 67 NAZARETH (5-7) Whitney Smith 8-14 2-4 19; Ali Sharpe 4-8 6-7 14; Kelly Dunne 3-10 2-2 11; Jamie Malloy 3-8 2-2 8; Sarah Homer 3-8 0-0 8; Rachel Pirozzolo 3-4 0-0 6; Lexie Hilliard 1-4 0-0 2; Stephanie Bowens 0-2 1-2 1; Sally Wilcox 0-4 0-0 0; Cassie Denniston 0-0 0-0 0; Kylie Bartlett 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-64 13-17 69. RIT (7-5) Joanna Dobeck 6-8 3-4 15; Margot Sandy 4-9 2-4 12; Danielle Furman 4-7 0-0 9; Jackie Hammond 3-10 1-4 8; Ramata Diallo 4-12 0-1 8; Renee Whitmore 1-2 6-6 8; Christine Rowinski 2-5 1-2 5; Shannon Bean 1-2 0-0 2; Jenna Newberry 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-56 13-21 67. Nazareth...................... 29 40 - 69 RIT........................... 49 18 - 67 3-point goals-Nazareth 6-24 (Kelly Dunne 3-9; Sarah Homer 2-7; Whitney Smith 1-2; Lexie Hilliard 0-1; Sally Wilcox 0-4; Kylie Bartlett 0-1), RIT 4-11 (Margot Sandy 2-3; Danielle Furman 1-3; Jackie Hammond 1-4; Joanna Dobeck 0-1). Fouled out--Nazareth-None, RIT-None. Rebounds-Nazareth 42 (Whitney Smith 11), RIT 32 (Ramata Diallo 9). Assists-Nazareth 20 (Sarah Homer 5; Whitney Smith 5), RIT 19 (Ramata Diallo 6). Total fouls-Nazareth 17, RIT 13. A-102 Nazareth to play in 5th place game Saturday at Brockport 1 p.m. RIT to play in 7th place game Saturday at Brockport at 11 a.m.