Phil Lee
GARDEN CITY, Kan. – Ari Gordon‘s go-ahead basket with seconds remaining lifted the Seward County Community College women’s basketball team to a 52-50 victory at Garden City Community College Saturday.
The Lady Saints led all the way until the final minute of the game when the Broncbusters hit a three-pointer and took a 50-49 lead with 24 seconds remaining. It was Garden City’s first lead of the game.
There was still plenty of time for the Lady Saints. After a timeout, Kezia Grant-Bobb inbounded the ball to Kylee Hunt, who passed it off to Gordon. Gordon drove to the basket and with a looping shot gave Seward a 51-50 advantage with four seconds remaining. Hunt added a free-throw for the final margin.
The Broncbusters still had two chances to take the lead or tie, but could not convert.
The Lady Saints, who snapped a modest two-game losing streak, improved to 7-5 in the Jayhawk Conference and 12-6 overall. Seward returns home to start the second half of conference play by hosting Cloud County at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Greenhouse.
Seward led 11-7 after one quarter and 25-15 at the half. Garden City went on a 9-0 run to open the third quarter to cut the lead to 25-24 at the 5:27 mark. Avery Marchino scored seven of the next nine points to help the Lady Saints regain a 10-point advantage. Seward led 37-31 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Lady Saints opened a 47-41 lead with 2:40 remaining in the fourth, but the Broncbusters hit three-pointers on each of their next three possessions and took the lead before Gordon’s go-ahead shot.
Marchino, who was plagued by foul trouble, led Seward with 15 points in only 16 minutes. Gordon and Grant-Bobb each had 12 points for the Lady Saints, who were 17-of-19 (89.5 percent) from the free-throw line.
Seward played strong defense, holding Garden City to 16-of-42 (38.1 percent) shooting from the field, creating 24 turnovers and making nine steals.
Ajong Lual had 15 points and six rebounds, Ana Ramos Pires added points and Bruna Costa Da Silva and Antonica Moultrie chipped in with eight points each for Garden City, which fell to 6-6 in conference play and 9-8 overall.
