Tait Nails Three at the Buzzer to Cap Comeback Win

COLLEGEVILLE, PA – Sophomore guard Meghan Tait (Oxford, PA/Oxford Area) scored Washington College's final 13 points, including the game-winning three-pointer at the buzzer to lift visiting Washington College to a come from behind 59-58 win over host Ursinus College on Wednesday evening at Helfferich Hall in Centennial Conference women's basketball action. The Shorewomen improve to 7-11 overall and 5-8 in the conference, while the Bears fall to 8-10 overall and 5-8 respectively.

Ursinus led 58-56 with five seconds left when Tait, who scored a game-best 22 points, received a pass from freshman center Erin Kile (Benton, PA/Benton) after Kile grabbed a rebound off of a missed free throw on the front end of a one-and-one by Ursinus' Jaclyn Hilf. Tait would drive to the top of the three-point arc and swished the trifecta to give WC the come from behind victory. The Shorewomen, who trailed by as many as 12 points in the second half, have now beaten the Bears three striaght times for the first time in the all-time series.

The Bears led by 11 points at 52-41 with 5:22 left in the game following an Alex Shivers bucket when the Shorewomen would mount their successful final charge. Freshman guard Maggie King (Kensington, MD/Bethesda-Chevy Chase) was fouled while shooting a three-pointer and made all three free throws to cut the Ursinus lead to 52-44 with 4:46 remaining in the second half. Sophomore guard/forward Sally O'Donnell (Cape May Court House, NJ/Wildwood Catholic) netted a layup to trim the Bears lead to 52-46 with 2:33 left. Tait would score the first two of her 13 straight points on a jumper in the paint with 1:57 left to reduce the hosts' lead to 52-48. Ursinus' lead was cut to 52-50 with 1:19 left on a Tait lay-in. Lindsay Teuber scored on a layup with 56 seconds remaining to end the 9-0 run to extend the Bears' lead to 54-50. Washington would strike right back as Tait scored on a layup with 43 ticks left to cut the lead back to two at 54-52. On the next possession for Ursinus, Ryann Burke was fouled and hit both from the charity stripe to make it 56-52 Bears with 26 seconds left. Tait came back on the next possession when she scored on a layup to cut it to 56-54 with 18 ticks left on the clock. After two WC fouls to get in the penalty, Rosati hit both free throws to extend the UC lead to 58-54 with 13 seconds to go. Tait hit a jumper with six seconds left to reduce the Ursinus lead to 58-56. The score would remain that way until Tait's buzzer beating trifecta.

In the first half, the Shorewomen jumped out to an 11-4 lead just 7:13 into the contest on a jumper by senior guard Jessica Jamrogowicz (Marlton, NJ/Bishop Eustace). Ursinus would level the game at 13-13 on a Julie Bown make with 7:45 to go in the first half. King hit a three-pointer with 5:51 left in the half to put the visitors up 19-15, but the Bears would go on a 10-2 run over the next 3:37 to take a 25-21 lead. Ursinus scored six consecutive points to take a 21-19 lead with 4:15 to go in the half on an Alli Rosati second chance lay-in. After a putback hoop by Kile evened the game at 21-21, the Bears scored back-to-back hoops to give the hosts a 25-21 lead with 2:14 to go. Washington regained the lead at 26-25 with 1:20 to go in the first on a layup by Tait. Ursinus would hit a free throw with 51 seconds left to tie the tilt at 26-26 and that would be the score at halftime.

In the first 6:16 of the second half, the Bears outscored the Shorewomen, 10-4, to take a 36-30 lead with 13:44 left on a pair of free throws by Rosati. Ursinus took a 31-30 lead with a jumper by Shivers. The Bears extended the lead 34-30 on a Rosati three-pointer with 15:11 left in the contest and would hit two free throws 1:27 later to cap the run. With Ursinus leading 38-34 with 12:26 left in the game, the Bears scored 10 of the next 12 points to take a 48-36 lead with 7:49 remaining as Bown capped the spurt on a layup.

Tait scored her 22 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field, including a perfect 6-of-6 shooting from the floor in the final 1:57. She also dished out a team-best three assists in the victory. Washington got a game-high 13 rebounds from senior forward Julie Sherwood (Fairfield, CT/Fairfield Warde) and 10 boards from Kile. Sally O'Donnell added 12 points, while King tied for the game-high in steals with three. Washington shot 39% from the floor and 86% (12-for-14) from the free throw line.

Bown scored 14 points, on 6-for-9 shooting to lead the Bears, as the hosts' had four players net double digits in the points. Rosati scored 11 points, while Shivers and Teuber each netted 10 points. Teuber grabbed six rebounds to pace Ursinus on the boards, while Hilf handed out five assists to lead all players. Rosati and Shivers each nabbed three steals to tie King for tops in the contest. The Bears shot 39% from the floor and 81% (13-for-16) from the stripe.

Washington held a 39-33 edge on the boards and outscored Ursinus from behind the arc by a 15-3 tally. The Bears outscored the Shorewomen 25-4 in bench points and 24-2 on points off turnovers. Both teams poured in 28 points in the paint.

The Shorewomen return to action Saturday with a 2:00 p.m. Centennial Conference tilt at Gettysburg.