KEENE, N.H. – Anna Maria College's Kristina Russo knocked down a jumper with six seconds remaining to lead the AMCATS to a 43-42 come from behind victory over Regis College on Wednesday afternoon at the Keene State University Holiday Tournament.
The Pride fall to 4-3 on the year and return to action on Saturday afternoon when they travel to No. 4 Tufts University for a non-league contest at 2:00 p.m.
Regis opened the game on an 8-0 run capped off by an Amanda Hawkesworth (Abington, Mass.) layup and later extended their lead to 15-2 after a Linsay Bumila (Raynham, Mass.) jumper with 12:01 to play in the opening half. Janaya Bradley (New Haven, Conn.) buried a jumper nearly five minutes later to give Regis their largest lead of the half at 25-8.
Anna Maria slowly chipped away and trailed only 30-19 headed into the half.
The two teams traded baskets to open the second period, and a pair of Russo freebies with 15:09 to play cut the deficit to only 32-25. Both offenses stalled as neither team could record a basket until the 11:02 mark when Russo buried a layup to cut it to five. Mikayla Murphy (Attleboro, Mass.) answered for the Pride on the next possession, but back-to-back layups from Traffica Warburton buried back-to-back layups to make it a 34-31 game and force a Pride timeout.
With 7:11 to play, Anna Maria's Emily Capstick connected on a layup to tie the game at 35-all. Michaela Maguire (Revere, Mass.) put Regis back on top with an offensive rebound and putback, but a Russo layup followed by a Warburton layup gave the AMCATS a 40-37 lead with 4:44 to play.
Three-straight freethrows from Hawkesworth and Emilee Marro (Bedford, N.H.) tied the game at 40, and the teams traded freethrows to keep it a 41-41 contest with 2:49 remaining. Neither team could grab the upper hand until a Hawkesworth freethrow with 50 seconds remaining to give Regis a 42-41 lead.
The Pride got a stop on the next Anna Maria possession, but the Pride returned the favor on the other end as the AMCATS regained possession and called a timeout with 12 seconds to play. Out of the inbounds, Russo found herself open on the right side of the floor for a 16 foot jumper that found the bottom of the net and put Anna Maria on top 43-42. The Pride could not get off a shot on their final possession as Anna Maria held on for the win.
Amanda Hawkesworth recorded a double-double with 10 points and 15 rebounds. Emilee Marro added 12 points and eight rebounds, while Bradley chipped in eight points of her own. Linsay Bumila scored four points to go with six rebounds, two steals and two blocks.
Emilee Marro was named to the All-Tournament Team.