GWYNEDD VALLEY, Pa.- Trailing by as many as 14 points at Gwynedd Mercy on Saturday afternoon, the Immaculata women's basketball team (5-12, 2-2) stormed all the way back and with the game tied in the closing seconds, sophomore Brielle Rigo took an inbounds pass from junior Annie Kohutka and laid it in with 1.9 seconds left to give the Macs a 54-52 road victory.
 
Senior Amber Ballinger led the way with 19 points, her final three coming on a game-tying triple in the final minute, and sophomore Theresa Kearney added 18 points and eight rebounds.  Rigo was effective on the defensive end with seven boards and four blocked shots.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
-The offenses were very slow to get going in the first quarter.  The Macs held a 6-5 lead for a couple minutes in the middle of the period, but after Gwynedd tied it up at 9-9, they took control of the quarter and led 14-11 after one
-The Griffins kept the pressure on to start the second as they scored seven quick points to get their lead into double digits, but the Ballinger stopped the run with a layup
-Gwynedd would then push the advantage to 14 points, their largest of the day, at 30-16 with 4:29 remaining in the half, but the Macs then held the Griffins scoreless which proved to be critical
-Kohutka hit a pair of free throws and Ballinger knocked down a triple to send the game to half at 30-21
-The Mighty Macs found their offense in the third quarter as they outscored the Griffins, 20-13.
-Gwynedd scored the first three of the second half, but the Macs punched back and a Kearney layup cut the deficit to seven at 33-26
-The Griffins again responded and grew the lead to 40-28 with 4:22 to go, but the Macs finished the period on a 13-3 run to make it a two point game heading to the fourth
-The teams traded free throws before sophomore Lauren Carrafa hit a pair of free throws and Ballinger converted a traditional three-point play to make it 43-36.  Ballinger made another layup and following a free throw by sophomore Natalie Ayoub and two more free throws by Kearney, the Macs were within two heading to the fourth
-The Griffins started the quarter by scoring the first five and held a 48-41 lead with 7:30 remaining, however, the IU defense stepped up and only allowed four points over that closing stretch as they made their push
-The lead was still at seven with 6:12 to go at 50-43, and the score held there for over three minutes before Rigo hit a jumper with 2:57 left to make it 50-45
-Ballinger and Kohutka then converted jumpers to cut the deficit to one point with 1:45 remaining, but the Griffins scored for the first time in five minutes to push their lead back to three points
-After an IU turnover and a Gwynedd miss, Ballinger hit a clutch transition three pointer from the left wing to tie it at 52-52 with 37 seconds remaining
-Both teams missed opportunities in their next possessions before Ricker stole a pass on Gwynedd's next possession, but she missed a layup with five seconds remaining and a held ball kept it in IU's possession
-Kohutka inbounded the ball from under the basket with a perfect bounce pass to Rigo underneath, who collected it and laid it off the glass for the two point win
 
TEAM COMPARISON
-The Macs were excellent defensively, holding the Griffins to 18-for-68 (26.5%) from the field while IU was 16-for-47 (34%)
-Neither team was great from beyond the arc as the Macs hit three of their 15 attempts and the Griffins were 5-for-20
-IU likely won the game at the line as they hit 19 of their 21 attempts (90.5%) and Gwynedd was 11-for-18 (61.1%)
-The Mighty Macs were nearly undone by their 30 turnovers, but they forced 19 themselves, none bigger than a steal by Ricker to get their final possession
-The 54-52 lead was the Macs largest of the game and they held the lead for less than four minutes in the entire contest, but battled all the way back for the conference victory
 
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
-Points: Ballinger 19, Kearney 18
-Rebounds: Kearney 8, Ballinger 7, Rigo 7
-Assists: Ballinger 3, Kearney 2
-Steals: Kohutka 3, Ballinger 3, Kearney 2
-Blocks: Rigo 4
 
UP NEXT
The Mighty Macs will stay in Atlantic East play and travel to Cabrini on Wednesday at 6 p.m.