Lady Keelhaulers drop nail biter to Simpson
The long bus ride to Redding, Calif., didn't seem to bother the Lady Keelhaulers (5-23, 0-13) as they battled hard against the Simpson University Redhawks, and ran out of time rather than ran out of gas.
Nancy Clark of Calexico, Calif. scored the first points of the game when she knocked down a three pointer from the corner. After that, the Lady Keelhaulers struggled on the offensive side early in the game, but eventually went on a run to keep the score close, winning the first quarter 13-11.
The Redhawks turned the ball over a total of 25 times, which allowed Cal Maritime to score 24 points off those turnovers. Defensively, the Keelhaulers had no answer for Simpson's Fallon Greenhaw, who finished the night with 23 points.
Simpson University led the half 29-25 and even scored the first basket of the second half. Throughout the third quarter, the score was very close. Junior Katherine Freitas of Durham, Calif. scored a layup in the paint in transition putting the Keelhaulers down by just one with 3:25 remaining in the quarter.
In the start of the fourth quarter, the Redhawks increased the lead to eight, the largest lead of the night. The Lady Keelhaulers kept their composure and responded back well by working hard on defense and executing on offense.
With 4:37 left in the game, senior Luisa Delos Reyes of San Leandro, Calif. made a good defensive play to steal the ball from Simpson and hit a layup to cut the Keelhaulers defecit to two at 48-46.
Cal Maritime continued to fight, but the lead slowly started to increase Redhawks. With under three minutes to go, two huge three pointers were made by Delos Reyes and junior Samantha James of Fresno, Calif.
The Redhawks were up two 57-55 with five seconds left. Coach Cox used his last 30 second timeout to try and draw up a last-second play to hopefully get a shot up at the buzzer to win it. Unfortunately, the inbound pass was thrown a little too high and the ball ended up in the hands of Simpson
The Keelhaulers had no choice but to foul with 1.9 seconds left on the clock putting Simpson at the foul line. Both free throws were knocked down. The final score to the game was 59-55.
"This game, we were able to play a complete four quarters," Freitas said. "Most of the time, we dig ourselves into a hole in the third quarter, but we were able to stay very level headed and focused, and when Simpson started to pull away by seven, we kept doing what we had to do as a team and fought back. People hit some very crucial threes in the end, but we just ended up coming short. We fought until the very end"
Luisa Delos Reyes led the team with 16 points and 5 steals. Alisia Spearman trailed behind Delos Reyes with 13 points. Samantha James finished off with 12 points and 7 rebounds.
UP NEXT: Women's Basketball will be traveling for their last conference game to Angwin, Calif. to go against Pacific Union College. Tip off will be at 6:30 p.m. as the Pioneers will be celebrating their seniors.