Ray Robinson keys Waynesburg win over Bethany with 32 points
WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg College’s defense gave its team a chance. Ashley Urban then seized the opportunity to give the Yellow Jackets a stunning 47-46 victory over visiting Bethany College in women’s college basketball action at Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse on Wednesday night.
Urban hit a 3-pointer with two seconds left to give Waynesburg a heart-stopping win in a President’s Athletic Conference battle.
The Yellow Jackets (12-10, 3-4) trailed 46-44 with 11 seconds left when they forced Bethany (15-7, 2-5) to use two time outs during an inbounds play under Waynesburg’s basket.
Waynesburg then forced a turnover as an errant pass went out of bounds off a Bison player. Yellow Jackets coach Terry Acker called his last time out, and Urban wriggled free in the corner and buried her high-arcing trey, which hit nothing but net.
“They ran the inbounds play to perfection,” Acker said. “Ashley is one of our 3-point shooters and she’s supposed to drift to the corner. She did and no one picked her up. She stepped up and made the shot.”
Waynesburg led 28-15 at halftime, but the Bison opened the second half with a 12-1 run to get back into the game at 29-27.
The Yellow Jackets pushed the margin back up to nine, only to watch the Bison come charging back in the final minutes.
Kelley Richardson finally pulled Bethany even at 42-42 with a basket inside at the 2:10 mark, and Nikki Babik hit a jumper with 1:49 remaining to put the Bison on top.
Kyana Bradley, who led all scorers with 16 points, scored with a rebound to knot the game at 44-44 with 1:31 left, but Babik made two free throws with 1:17 on the clock for a 46-44 Bethany lead.
The Bison got possession after a Waynesburg turnover with 11 seconds left.
Waynesburg’s defense hung tough, however, refusing to let a player break free on three straight inbounds attempts by the Bison.
“The 3-pointer won the game for us, points-wise,” Acker said, “but the game was really won with those three defensive stops. I told them during the last time out that we are going to win this game. Actually, I think they had all the confidence in the world after that last defensive stop.
“We needed to win a game like this. We’ve lost a couple where we’ve come back and fallen short. This win is very important, not only because it’s a conference win, but because this is a young team and it showed them that they can win a game no matter what the situation.”
Candice Eyerman followed Bradley in the Yellow Jackets’ scoring column with 10 points.
Richardson led Bethany with 15.
There was one local player on each team, although neither saw action.
Beth-Center graduate Edweena Davis is a 5-foot-4 sophomore guard/forward for Waynesburg, while Carmichaels graduate Kristen Judy is a 6-0 freshman forward/center for Bethany.