Ancilla women slip past GOCC

After a gutsy performance, the Glen Oaks Community College women's basketball team endured another heartbreaker Saturday at home, losing to Marian University's Ancilla College, 59-51.  

Trailing the entire game until midway through the fourth quarter, the Glen Oaks Community College women's basketball team finally pulled ahead with a massive 3-pointer by Amanda Barber that gave the Vikings a 43-41 lead. 

But as soon as the home crowd's cheers died down, Ancilla fired back with a deep ball of its own and regained the advantage. Despite back-to-back turnovers, Glen Oaks got the lead back once again as Barber drilled another 3-pointer to put the Vikings up by two, 46-44. Yet again, the Chargers answered quickly, this time tying things up with a close-range field goal. 

A Washington jumper gave the Vikings their third lead of the game at 48-46, but a 3-pointer by Ancilla's Bella Mahan provided the final lift the Chargers needed. With a 49-48 advantage, Ancilla forced a pair of Glen Oaks turnovers and rode out the rest of the game on the foul line.  

Youmans and Washington chipped away early in the final period to set up Barber's first game-flipping 3-pointer. Youmans scored in the post and Washington banged in a deep jumper off the glass to make it a one-point game at 39-38 in favor of Ancilla. The Chargers pulled ahead again by three before Youmans' physical play in the paint paid off again with another basket that cut it back down to one. 

It was an incredible effort by Barber, who finished with six 3-pointers for a game-high 22 points. She hit three of those triples in the fourth quarter. Kamryn Washington also came up with two clutch field goals in the final 10 minutes and Abby Youmans made two buckets in the wild final frame. 

In the end, Glen Oaks was forced to put Ancilla on the line as the Chargers (11-10, 3-5 MCCAA Western Conference) made enough free throws to remain comfortably out front as the clock began to run out on the Vikings (9-13, 1-7).

A pair of 3-pointers by Mahan and two field goals in the lane by Nasiya Gause helped build an 18-11 Ancilla lead by the end of the first quarter. Glen Oaks freshman shooting guard Chelsi Zyla drained two 3-pointers to get things going for the Vikings earlier in the period. Abby Youmans made 1 of 2 free throws and Kamryn Washington hit two from the stripe to keep GOCC in reach. 

Mahan scored eight more points in the second quarter to build Ancilla's lead to 32-22 by halftime. Barber answered with eight of her own points in the second quarter and teammate Sarah DeKoning added a 3-pointer in the period. 

Kaytlin Smith and Barber buckets in the third quarter cut the deficit to seven points with 3:47 on the clock. A pair of Zyla free throws and a DeKoning 3-pointer made it a one-possession game heading into the fourth quarter. 

Zyla ended the day with eight points, Washington and DeKoning each had six, Youmans added five, and Kylie Quist and Smith finished with two apiece. Lilyana Coleman led the Vikings with 10 rebounds, Quist had four assists and Washington notched three steals.