Williams Edged by Muhlenberg, 64-63, in NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament
Courtesy Williams/Rochester Sports Information
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Alexandra Chili hit a hit a three-pointer out of the right corner with one second to play to lead Muhlenberg College to a 64-63 victory in the opening round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Playoffs at the University of Rochester.
Chili's heroics came just 14 seconds after Claire Baecher hit a jumper off the right block to give Williams a 63-61 lead with 15.6 seconds remaining.
Muhlenberg tried to rush the ball upcourt, but Williams committed two fouls to delay the offense. After the second foul with eight seconds left, Muhlenberg coach Ron Rohn called his last timeout.
"He wanted to keep us calm," said Chili. "We wanted to get the ball below the foul line, so if Williams fouled again, we would inbound the ball on the baseline."
The Ephs (21-6) knocked a pass out of bounds with three seconds left. Kelly McKeon inbounded with a tall defender blocking her view. Chili was the second option. She caught the ball and sank the gamewinner. Williams inbounded but a long pass upcourt was batted away and time expired.
"I told the players after the game 'you see these kind of games in the NCAA tournament all the time,'" Rohn said. "You wonder what it feels like to win a game like that. You'll remember this feeling the rest of your life."
Neither team could pull away. Muhlenberg (22-5) opened an eight-point lead on a three-pointer by Chili with 3:27 left (26-18) only to see Williams pull within two points twice, the last time with 20 seconds left. It was 31-27 Muhlenberg at halftime.
The Ephs didn't take their first lead until 9:37 left in the game on a layup and free throw by Baecher. That put Williams ahead, 45-44. They kept trading the lead.
"I just wanted one extra basket," said Williams coach Pat Manning. "If we could get a stop and then score, it would help. Kids were stepping up on both sides and making shots. Chessie (Jackson) and Baecher came up big when we needed them."
Both teams missed opportunities to break the 61-all deadlock in the last 90 seconds. With just over 18 seconds left and the shot clock down to three seconds, Jennie Harding lobbed the ball into Baecher on the right block. She turned and calmly hit a four-footer to put Williams up, 63-61.
"They run a lot of alley oop plays for Baecher," Rohn said. "We thought they would do it again. Instead, they lobbed it down low and she went over the top."
Chili led all scorers with 24 points. McKeon had 13 points and 13 rebounds for Muhlenberg. Leeann Lanza scored 10 points.
Baecher scored 21 points for Williams. Jackson had 14.
