Bethany Edges Marywood in ECAC Quarterfinals, 61-60
Mariah Schaeffer ends her career as Marywood's fifth all-time leading scorer.

Bethany Edges Marywood in ECAC Quarterfinals, 61-60

Women's Basketball - 2/29/2012 8:26:00 PM

Box Score

Scranton, PA -  Bethany College overcame a four-point deficit in the final 26 seconds of regulation to edge host Marywood University 61-60 in an Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) South Region quarterfinal contest on Wednesday evening in Scranton.  The fifth-seed Bison improve to 17-11 on the season and advance to the ECAC semifinals while the Pacers end the 2011-12 campaign with an 18-10 mark.
 
Bethany scored the first nine points of Wednesday night's contest and would lead by as many as ten points in the opening minutes.  With the Bison holding a 17-10 advantage with 11:42 to play in the first half, Marywood used a 10-0 run, led by six points from Mariah Schaeffer, to take a 20-17 lead with 8:49 to play in the opening half. 
 
The visitors forged back in front at 24-22 on a Kelly Zogran layup with just over six minutes remaining in the half and the teams would trade baskets over the next three minutes.  Tied 28-28 with 3:03 left on the clock, the Pacers closed the half on a 6-0 spurt that gave the hosts a 34-28 lead at the intermission.
 
Marywood, who shot 37.5 percent from the floor in the first half, was paced by Schaeffer's 12 points in the opening stanza while Allison Bruet added six points, including a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line, as the Pacers went 10-14 from the charity stripe in the first 20 minutes of play.  
 
Bethany got eight points apiece from Renee Shepherd and Katelynn Hackathorn in the first half, with Hackathorn pulling down nine rebounds in the period as the Bison held a 21-17 advantage on the glass in the frame. 
 
Marywood scored the first four points of the second half to stretch their advantage to 38-28 just under a minute into the period, but Bethany outscored the Pacers 17-5 over the next nine minutes to hold a 46-43 lead with 9:56 remaining.  Marywood would forge three more ties before eventually going back in front, 54-53, on a jumper by Bruet with 5:35 left on the clock.
 
A Zogran three-pointer just under a minute later put the Bison back up by two, but Marielle Thorsen responded with a trey of her own to put Marywood up 57-56 with 2:19 remaining.  The Pacers extended their lead to 60-56 with 26 seconds to play after Bruet hit a pair of free throws to complete a perfect, 9-9 evening from the line, but Bethany scored the final five points of the game to pull out the late comeback victory, capped by a Hackathorn traditional three-point play with 2.9 seconds left.
 
For the game, Hackathorn led Bethany with 17 points and 16 rebounds while the Bison got 10 points apiece from Shepherd, Zogran, and Kayla Taormina.  Bethany connected on 44.4 percent of their efforts from the floor, 29.4 percent from beyond the arc, and 61.5 percent from the free throw line.
 
Schaeffer and Bruet each scored 17 points and added six rebounds apiece to lead Marywood, who shot 35.6 percent from the field and 65.4 percent from the line.  The Pacers connected on just one of nine attempts from three-point range.  Bruet led all players with six steals in the contest.
 
Wednesday night's game marked the final appearance in a Marywood uniform for Bruet, Schaeffer, and Thorsen, all seniors who scored at least 1,000 points in their collegiate careers.  
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