Women’s basketball team rallies to beat Albion, 49-45

ALBION, Mich. – The Olivet College women's basketball team out-scored Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association rival Albion College, 21-9, in the fourth quarter to stun the Britons, 49-45, tonight at Kresge Gymnasium in Albion.

Albion took a seven-point lead, 9-2, with 4:49 left in the first quarter. The Comets scored five straight points to cut their deficit down to two points, 9-7, at the 3:22 mark. The Britons answered with a 9-0 run to push their lead to 11 points, 18-7, at the end of the opening stanza.

The Britons extended their lead to as many as 14 points on two occasions early in the second period. The last time was 25-11 with 7:28 remaining in the period. Olivet put the next five points on the scoreboard to trim its deficit to single digits, 25-17. The teams traded points to finish the quarter, as Albion held a 29-20 lead at halftime.

The Comets opened the third quarter with a 6-0 run to cut its deficit to three points, 29-26. The Britons did not score a point in the quarter until the 2:39 mark. A two-point basket ignited a 7-0 run to stretch the Albion lead to 10 points, 36-26, at the 1:48 mark. Olivet made a basket to trail by eight, 36-28, entering the final quarter of the game.

The Comets started the fourth quarter on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 36-36. The Britons quickly answered with a three-pointer by Emily Zgoda to take the lead back. Olivet responded with back-to-back layups by senior Dallas Austin for its first lead in the game, 40-39, with 4:44 left in the game.

Jay Bard drained two free throws to put Albion back on top, 41-40. Senior Bre Kidd answered with a jump shot to give the lead to the Comets, 42-40. After Bard made a jump shot to hand the lead to Albion, Kidd nailed back-to-back jumpers for a 46-43 Olivet lead at the 2:10 mark.

Darian Payne made a layup to make the score 46-45. Senior Leighann Thilo split a pair of free throws to push Olivet's lead to two points with 28 seconds remaining. The Britons called a timeout with 18 seconds left in the game. Bard turned the ball over with sophomore Ayren Parrish collecting the steal. Parrish was fouled and made two free throws for a 49-45 advantage. A last-second three-point attempt by the Britons was off the mark.

For the game, the Comets shot 34.4 percent from the floor (21-of-61), but when it mattered in the fourth quarter, they shot 60 percent (9-of-15). By comparison, Albion had a 27.6 shooting percentage for the game.

Olivet used a balanced scoring attack, as no players reached double figures. Junior T'Keyia Collins led the way with nine points. Kidd chipped-in with eight, while junior Leeza Donald added six. Junior Katie McKinnon finished with five points to along with six rebounds and two blocked shots. Collins pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Thilo dished out a game-best five assists.

Bard paced the Britons with 14 points. Payne produced a double-double, 12 points and 16 rebounds.  

Olivet will play a pair of home non-conference games next week. The first will be Sunday afternoon against Carthage (Wis.) College and the second will be next Tuesday, Dec. 22, against Lawrence Technological Institute. Both games have a 1 p.m. start time from The Cutler Event Center in Olivet.