Goucher Women's Basketball Gets Nipped At End After Furious Comeback Attempt At Allegheny, 58-56

MEADVILLE, Pa. – Goucher College almost rallied from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to earn the victory, but Allegheny College scored the decisive points with two seconds remaining to down the Gophers 58-56 in the first game of the Greg Richards Memorial Classic in women's basketball action on Friday.

Goucher stormed back from a 51-40 deficit with 6:39 left thanks to a 13-2 run to even the score at 53 with 2:16 on the clock after a Kyani Quarles (Houston, Texas/Cristo Rey Jesuit) layup. Five different players scored for the Gophers in this spurt. The Gators then retook the lead with 90 seconds left and Alayna McFadden (Silver Spring, Md./Montgomery Blair) tied the game at 56 with six seconds left only to see Allegheny win the game with two ticks remaining.

After scoring a career-high 28 points in the 62-58 season-opening win against Gallaudet on Monday, McFadden paced the team with 14 points on Friday. The sophomore has reached double figures in 19 of the 27 games she has played.

Quarles, who had a career-high 10 rebounds in her collegiate debut on Monday, posted her first double-digit point game with 13 points and narrowly missed a double-double after finishing with nine boards. 

Anise Wlliams (West Palm Beach, Fla./The Benjamin School) stuffed the stat sheet with 12 points, six steals, four rebounds and three assists in the contest. Williams has recorded six or more thefts eight times in her career and has registered double figures in 22 of 26 games in her collegiate career.

The Gophers trailed for most of the first quarter until Williams made a 3-ball with 2:54 left to hand the Baltimore team a 13-11 lead. Allegheny scored the final six points of the stanza to take a 17-13 lead.

It was a 15-9 second quarter to give the Gators a 32-22 lead at halftime and the two teams each scored 14 points in the third quarter to keep the margin at 10-points going into the final frame.

Goucher did have a 7-0 run the third quarter sparked by four points by Quarles to cut the margin to 37-34 with 3:01 left, but Allegheny closed the period on a 9-2 run to regain the 10-point margin.

Goucher then made a furious comeback attempt to tie the game twice in the final 90 seconds, but the Gators took the last bite to earn the win.

Claire Flynn (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck), who had a big trey during the fourth-quarter run, notched her first collegiate points and finished with seven points.

The Gophers return to action in the final day of the Greg Richards Memorial Classic on Saturday against Hiram. Game time is 11 a.m.