DANBURY, Conn. — Despite being down by one with 54 seconds remaining in regulation,
Sara Macary (Naugatuck, Conn.) netted four-straight free throws to give the Western Connecticut State University women's basketball team the 64-61 edge over the visiting SUNY Cobleskill Fighting Tigers in the Stephen Feldman Arena at the O'Neill Center on Wednesday. The Wolves improved to 7-10 overall, while the visitors dropped to 7-9 on the season. Macary boasted 17 points and 12 rebounds for her fifth consecutive double-double this season, while
Leana Heitmann (East Syracuse, N.Y.) also collected 17 points. The hosts earned their first victory over Cobleskill in their fourth matchup.
Francesca Foster (Mystic, Conn.) forced an early steal in the opening period, followed by a fastbreak layup in the paint by
Malaysia Dingle (Brockton, Mass.) and gave WestConn the 2-0 lead at 9:13, which the team maintained until the final minute of the game. A jumper in the paint by Jaiyla Colon put Cobleskill up 61-60 for their first lead of the night, but Macary drew a pair of fouls to close out the game with four-straight points.
WestConn ignited its lead with an 11-2 stretch to start the contest, capped off by back-to-back three pointers by Foster and Heitmann. The Wolves closed out the first half with a three-point advantage for a score of 30-33. Cobleskill came out of the locker room with consecutive jumpers to make it a one-point game, but Heitmann's bucket from deep ignited a 9-0 run as the Wolves took their largest lead of the night, 44-34. The Tigers scored eight straight to narrow the deficit to two, but the home team retaliated with six straight of their own.
A two-point basket by Macary put WestConn up by seven in the fourth with four minutes remaining, but the Tigers netted six unanswered points to cut the gap to one with 2:32 left. Dingle went to the line and made one of her two free throws for a 60-58 lead.
WestConn remains at home to face the Little East Conference opponent, the University of Southern Maine, on Saturday at 1 p.m.
