(Peru, Neb.)—The Peru State women's basketball team finished the season off on a high note knocking off Graceland 57-54 in the final seconds. The Bobcats finish the season 12-16 overall and 7-12 in conference play. Graceland finishes the season 5-23 overall and 2-17 in conference play.
The Bobcats raced out to a 7-0 lead in the first part of the game capped off by jumper by
Hailey Ingram (Omaha). Then the Yellowjackets woke up as they went on a 9-0 run to take the 14-12 lead with 3:08 remaining in the quarter.
Peru State and Graceland then would trade buckets for the final few minutes of the first quarter and ultimately ended up tied 18-18 as the first quarter came to a close. The second quarter started with the Yellowjackets going on a 5-0 run before the Bobcats would get their first points of the quarter.
Then the Bobcats went on an 8-3 run to tie the game at 26 from a couple of
Samantha Stewart (Mount Ayr, Iowa) free throws. The Bobcats and the Yellowjackets were in a battle for the rest of the half. Maria "Duda" Alcantara
(Recife, Brazil) hit a jumper at the horn to tie the game at 33 apiece going into the break.
In the third quarter the Bobcats played excellent defense as they held the Yellowjackets to zero points for the first six minutes of action going on a 10-0 run leading 43-33 after a couple of
Maddy Duncan (Hamburg, Iowa) free throws. The Yellowjackets only scored five points in the third as the 'Cats would head into the final quarter leading by seven 45-38.
In the fourth the Yellowjackets cut the lead to four points down 47-43 with 7:11 to play in the game. The Bobcats got the lead back to eight points from a Duncan field goal now leading 51-43.
After the Bobcats went up nine from an Ingram three pointer, they got cold, and the Yellowjackets came back with an 8-0 run of their own from a jumper with 31 seconds left.
Peru State came up big in the final 30 seconds as
Julie Miller (Easton, Kan.) came up with a steal and Ingram drove in and hit an and-one bucket at the buzzer as the Bobcats would win the game 57-54.
The Bobcats shot 18-of-49 from the field good for 36.7% while the Yellowjackets shot 20-of-56 shooting 35.7% from the field. Peru State did not shoot well from beyond the arc as they were 2-of-9, good for 22.2%. Graceland shot 8-of-27 from deep as they shot 29.6%. The 'Cats went to the line 27 times converting 19 of them good for 70.4%. Graceland went to the line seven times and converted six of them shooting 85.7% from the charity stripe.
Miller and Ingram were tied as the leading scorer on the day as each of them had 16. Miller had a double-double as she grabbed ten boards in the win. Duncan was the third leading scorer as she contributed nine points on the day.
Here's what head coach
Ian Holleran had to say about the Bobcats season…
"Today was a big win for our program," said Holleran. "I was very excited to end the season with a win and send out our one senior Maria "Duda" Alcantara the right way.
Holleran continued…
"It was another close game, and I was proud of how our team made some big plays when we needed them. Julie (Miller) had a great defensive play to get the steal, and Hailey (Ingram) came through big time with the game-winner."
Holleran talked about the future of this young program.
"Even though we fell just short of the conference tournament," Holleran said. "12 wins is a major step in the right direction. We doubled our win total from last season and have some great momentum heading into the offseason."
Holleran added…
"I'm confident in saying we are close, and my staff and I are going to make sure we continue build in the right direction to achieve our goal of getting this program to national prominence."
