Mary Francis (Gulf Coast/Naples, FL) hit an eight-foot runner from the right side with four seconds left to give the St. John Fisher College women’s basketball team a 52-51 win over host Keuka College in the opening round of the JPMorgan Chase Scholarship Tournament on Tuesday.
With the win, Fisher, the No. 3 seed in the eight-team tournament, improves to 8-3 on the year, and will now face No. 2 SUNY Brockport in the semifinals at 8:15 p.m. on Thursday at Roberts Wesleyan College.
The game marks the third straight time the Cardinals have rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half to pull out a victory. Fisher trailed 23-21 at intermission, but the Storm opened up the second half with a 9-1 run to build up a 10-point lead.
Fisher took its first lead since the opening moments of the game on a layup from Ashley Dean (Horseheads/Horseheads) with 4:54 left. Fisher led by four points at 48-44 after two free throws from Ashley Napoleone (Batavia Notre Dame/Batavia) and Allison Boehm (Sacred Heart/Cheektowaga), but Keuka did not go away.
Keuka pulled to within one after a 3-pointer and took the lead with 37 seconds left on two free throws. Dean gave Fisher the lead at 50-49 with two free throws with 27 seconds left, but Keuka again regained the lead with 15 seconds remaining after converting two foul shots.
On Fisher’s final possession, Francis, who was just 1-for-11 from the floor, took the ball at the top of the key, and drove to the basket and banked in the game-winning shot with four ticks left on the clock. Keuka’s last-second shot was launched from half-court and didn’t hit the rim.
Dean led the Cardinals with 16 points and seven rebounds and shot 6-for-6 from the foul line. Boehm finished with 14 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals, while Francis added seven points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Freshman Kellie Leathem (Catholic/Troy) finished with five points, while classmate Mary Kate Comfort (Orchard Park/Orchard Park) tallied five rebounds and three points. Fellow freshman Christine Isselhard (Gananda/Macedon) came off the bench and grabbed four rebounds and blocked two shots.
