INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Carlie Newman took a pass from April Adams and converted on a layup with one second on the clock to give Spring Arbor a 49-47 win over Marian University on the road on Saturday afternoon. The game was close the entire way with Spring Arbor never having an advantage by larger than five points and the Knights largest lead was never more than just two points.
The first half of play was slower moving offensively as SAU led by five points, 15-10, with 7:27 remaining in the first stanza. Marian would steam back and hit a 3-pointer with 26 seconds to go to take just a 19-18 advantage at intermission.
Both teams picked up the pace in the second half of action, but remained competitive as the Cougars led the game by one (34-33) at the halfway point of the second half.
The Cougars held onto the lead and had a 47-43 advantage with 1:17 left in the game when the Knight's Rachel Turk made a layup to cut the Cougars lead in half. SAU had two opportunities to regain the four point lead, but missed a shot and put back and Marian gained control of the ball with only 62 seconds remaining.
Marian tied the game at 47 points each with 43 seconds left on a layup by Rachel Turk, and it looked bleak for the Cougars as SAU lost the ball back to Marian with 30 seconds left.
With five seconds in the game, Marian's Natasha Marshall turned the ball over and April Adams made the steal and found Carlie Newman who raced the clock and made the layup before the buzzer to give Spring Arbor a much needed Crossroads League victory.
"Obviously, this was an exciting last second win," said Coach Ryan Frost. "But there was a lot of great play that put us in that spot. We had a lot of girls contribute that do things that won't show up in the box score. April did a good job containing their leading scorer, and we also had good minutes off the bench from Audra Norris, Shelby Peterson, and Ana Byrens."
Newman led the game with 17 points and five rebounds and Jenna Jamieson added 16 points and hauled in seven rebounds. Alex Glenn grabbed six rebounds for the Cougars.
With the win, Spring Arbor improves to 9-15, and 3-9 in Crossroads League action. Marian falls to 14-9 and 4-8. The Cougars are still in 9th place but closed the gap to just one game behind Marian and Mount Vernon Nazarene who are both 4-8.
The Lady Cougars will return home on Wednesday night to face the 6-6 Grace College Lancers, who are tied for 4th place in the CL for a 7:00 game. With just six games remaining in the regular season, the Cougars are looking to move up into the top eight teams for post season play.
