MEADVILLE, Pa. -- A consecutive game at the Wise Center came down to the last shot, but Wooster's three-pointer hit the front of the rim and fell short as Allegheny held off a late charge from the Fighting Scots in a 66-64 win.
A 7-0 run by Wooster with around 4:00 to play got the Scots within 53-50, but
Kaylah Pinkney hit back-to-back three-pointers to send the lead back out to nine, 59-50, within a minute, the second of which came with 2:17 remaining. The guests scored the next five points, but
Delaney Arbore knocked down a pair of free throws, which was answered by a triple from Wooster's Anna Gibbs. The same thing happened two more times as Gibbs' final three-pointer came with 7.3 seconds left to make it 65-64. Arbore made 1-of-2 free throws to stretch the lead to 66-64, and Gibbs' heave at the buzzer came up short as the Gators held on for the near wire-to-wire victory.
Arbore led Allegheny with 23 points, her first 20-point effort since scoring 25 points at Bethany on Dec. 10 in the game which she topped 1,000 career points. The senior added three rebounds and three assists, while making four triples and 7-of-8 free throws, all within the final 32 seconds. Pinkney made a career-best four three-pointers and established a new career high with 16 points. She also hauled in eight rebounds, one off her career high, and handed out three assists.
Zoe Soilis grabbed a career-best 11 rebounds and narrowly missed a double-double with eight points.
Julianna Skowron was also near a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds. In her first career start,
Chloe Rabold had five points and five rebounds.
Defensively, the Gators held Wooster to just 28.0 percent (21-of-75) from the field and 30.8 percent (8-of-26) from beyond-the-arc.
With the victory, the Gators now hold the edge over the Fighting Scots for the final spot in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) tournament field as Allegheny holds the tiebreaker by sweeping the season series.
Allegheny is idle until Friday, Feb. 1 when it travels to No. 16 DePauw for a 6 p.m. meeting in Greencastle, Ind.
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