Hunter Pulls Away in 4th Quarter to Win Thrilling Quarterfinal Over Goucher
Hunter College won a thrilling 96-87 game over Goucher College to advance to the ECAC Tournament Semifinals Saturday afternoon.
Alexa Charles scored a career-high 41 points, on 15-of-24 shooting, and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds to lead Hunter to victory. She also led the team with 5 assists and 4 steals. While Charles did most of the heavy lifting, Hunter had a few other standouts, including an 18-point performance from Erin Cosio and a 10-point, 6-rebound performance from Gianna Henriques.
Goucher saw 12 players score a point in the game, with Nia Edens coming off the bench to lead the Gophers with 22 points. She shot 7-of-12 from the floor and hit a team-high 3 threes, while adding 6 rebounds and 4 steals in the game. Meona Boykin was the only other Goucher player to reach double-digits, scoring 12 points in just 12 minutes of action.
Neither team led by more than 4 points in the opening quarter as the game would be closely contested throughout. An Edens three-pointer put the Gophers up 18-14 with 2:31 to play in the first quarter, but Hunter closed the quarter on an 8-2 run, the last basket coming with just 2 seconds on the clock, to take a 22-20 lead after one.
Hunter was in control for most of the second quarter, expanding their lead to as many as 10 points before Goucher made a late push. Trailing 37-27, the Gophers pieced together a 17-7 run over the final three and a half minutes, capped-off by an Edens three-pointer with 10 seconds on the clock, to make it a 44-44 game at the half.
In the early portion of the third quarter, it was Goucher’s turn to take control, seizing the momentum gained from the end of the first half to go up by 5, 53-48, just a few minutes into the second half. Hunter had an answer, using back-to-back threes to quickly retake the lead, but it was a battle for the rest of the quarter as neither team could gain a significant advantage and Goucher led 69-68 heading to the fourth quarter.
Hunter scored the first 7 points of the fourth quarter, opening up a 75-69 lead and putting Goucher on its heels. The Gophers clawed their way back to tie the game at 75, but they would never be able to get over the hump to get their lead back as Hunter would execute down the stretch and finish off the 9-point victory.
Hunter advances to play William Paterson for a chance to go to the ECAC Tournament Championship game. The semifinal game is set for Sunday, March 9th at 1:00 p.m.