Allegheny Uses Late Run to Win 2025 ECAC Women's Basketball Championship
Trailing by 8 points with less than 8 minutes remaining, the Allegheny Gators stormed back, using a 9-2 run over the final 3:48 of the game to defeat William Paterson University, 56-52 and win the 2025 ECAC Women’s Basketball Tournament Championship.
Emily Lauer filled-up the stat sheet, scoring 17 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and 1 block and was named the ECAC Women’s Basketball Tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Bella Antonacci was clutch down the stretch for the Gators, scoring 5 of her 14 points in the final 3 minutes of the game, adding 8 rebounds and 4 assists to her game totals on the afternoon. Sarah Santicola had a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds, tacking on a game-high 3 blocks, while Ava Kobus came up one rebound shy of joining Santicola with 12 points and 9 rebounds. All 56 Allegheny points were scored by the starting five, with the group sitting a combined total of 17 minutes in the game.
William Paterson were paced by Renee Wells’ game-high 25 points, coming on 9-of-19 shooting and hitting 2 of the Pioneers’ 3 three-pointers. Wells also had a team-high 9 rebounds and a game-high-tying 4 steals in the game, doing everything she could to will her team to a championship victory. Patty Walsh had 8 points and 8 rebounds and Brianna Smith had 7 points and 4 assists to help lead the Pioneers.
Fans were treated to a thrilling championship game played inside William Paterson’s Sports and Recreation Center as it featured 3 ties and 13 lead changes and the home team leading for nearly 29 of the game’s 40 minutes. William Paterson led 10-9 after the first quarter, and then, after opening-up an 8-point lead in the second quarter, took a 25-23 lead into the locker rooms.
The Pioneers maintained their lead for nearly the entire third quarter, only surrendering it for a brief moment midway through the third quarter when Allegheny capped-off a 7-2 run to take the 32-31 lead, the Gators’ first since it was 17-16 with 6:56 left to go in the second quarter. William Paterson regained momentum with an 8-1 run and would eventually hold a 43-37 lead after three quarters of play.
The Pioneers looked like they were on their way to winning the 2025 ECAC Women’s Basketball Championship, leading 47-39 with 7 minutes remaining, but Allegheny turned it up on both ends of the floor and started making their comeback. Kobus and Santicola traded layups over the next few minutes to make up Allegheny’s 8-0 run and tie the game at 47 apiece. A minute later, with Allegheny trailing 50-49, Antonacci hit a step-back jumper to put the Gators up 51-50. Antonacci made sure it was a lead Allegheny would not relinquish, hitting another jump shot with less than 2 minutes to play to extend the lead to 3. William Paterson had a chance to tie the game, but Kobus came up with a critical steal that led to a Santicola basket that put the game all but out of reach.
Wells gave the Pioneers life, cutting it to 3 with 15 seconds left, but Antonacci hit 1-of-2 free throws with 7 seconds remaining to ice the win for the Gators. As Jess Bickart grabbed the rebound from the Pioneers’ last-gasp three-pointer, the Gators embraced and celebrated the championship victory.