Porcasi's Free Throws Seals Women's Basketball's Come-From-Behind Victory Over SJC Long Island

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BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Trailing by one with 1.1 seconds remaining, freshman Victoria Porcasi (Franklin Square, N.Y./H. Frank Carey) calmly sank two free throws after stealing an inbounds pass to lift the St. Joseph's College (Brooklyn) women's basketball team past sibling rivals St. Joseph's (Long Island), 62-61, on Thursday evening to sweep the season series.

The Basics

• Final Score: SJC Brooklyn 62, SJC Long Island 61
• Records: SJC Brooklyn (5-10, 4-3 Skyline), SJC Long Island (3-9, 1-3 Skyline)
• Date: January 7, 2016
• Location: Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Arena: The Hill Center
• Starters:
  • SJC Brooklyn: Eddy (G), Marino (G), Simon (G), Porcasi (G), Candelaria (F)
  • SJC Long Island: Zizzo (G), Gehring, C. (G), Smith (G), Gehring, D. (F), Iavarone (F)

Turning Point

• The Lady Bears trailed by five with 23 seconds left before staging an improbable comeback. An Erica Eddy three pointer with three ticks left cut the deficit to one before Victoria Porcasi stole the ensuing inbounds pass after a timeout and was fouled with 1.1 seconds remaining. The second-best free throw shooter in the Skyline sank both for the victory and the Golden Eagles could only advance the ball to midcourt in defeat.

How it Happened

• A tightly contested first period saw five lead changes and two ties. The Lady Bears closed strong with a 9-2 run to claim a 17-13 advantage after one stanza.
• A defensive second period remained scoreless until Destiny Marino connected on a free throw more than two minutes in. With 2:06 remaining in the half, Samantha Simon's three-pointer widened Brooklyn's lead to eight points (25-17). But Jackie Zizzo's triple at the 30-second mark capped a 6-1 run for the Golden Eagles and closed the gap to 26-23 heading into the break.
• Danielle Gehring's layup early in the third period moved the Golden Eagles up 27-26, their first lead since the 2:51 mark of the first. After falling behind 35-30, Destiny Marino shifted the momentum with five unanswered points to bring the Lady Bears back even. Marino's layup in the waning seconds of the third closed a 10-point quarter for the guard and gave Brooklyn a slight 44-42 advantage heading into the final period.
• Victoria Porcasi buried a trifecta early in the fourth to stretch the Lady Bears' lead to 47-42, but the Golden Eagles erupted for a 13-2 run to move up 55-49 by the 4:22 mark, as Marino sat on the bench in foul trouble.
• Clawing their way back, a layup from Marino made it a one-possession contest, 60-57, with but just nine seconds remained. After Andrea Iavarone made one-of-two at the line for Long Island, Erica Eddy drained a critical trifecta at the three-second mark to make it 61-60. On the ensuing inbounds play, Porcasi came up with the steal and was fouled with just one tick left. The guard drained both to seal the dramatic finish.       .

For the Lady Bears

• Victoria Porcasi led all scorers with 21 points on 5-of-12 shooting from behind the arc. The guard also grabbed seven boards and swiped three steals.
• Destiny Marino compiled her fourth double-double of the season, finishing with 20 points and a season-high 14 rebounds.
• Kristin Candelaria brought down 11 rebounds and rejected a game-high three shots. The forward secured double-digit boards for the second consecutive game and fifth time this season.
• Samantha Simon tallied nine points helped by 2-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc.

For the Golden Eagles

• Rynese Smith tied a team-high with 14 points while stuffing the stat-sheet with three rebounds, three steals, two assists and a pair of blocks.
• Jackie Zizzo shot 5-of-10 from the field and drained 4-of-8 from three-point land en route to 14 points.
• Andrea Iavarone tallied 14 as well to go along with a team-best 12 caroms.

Inside the Box Score

• The Lady Bears shot just 26.6% (17-of-64) from the field, while the Golden Eagles connected on 40.4% (23-of 57) of their attempts. But Brooklyn finished 20-of-30 from the free-throw line, attempting 19 more and connecting 13 more times than their opponent from the stripe, including the crucial game winners.
• Both sides drained eight three-pointers, while Brooklyn barely edged Long Island (45-44) in a tightly contested rebound battle.
• The rivals exchanged 11 lead changes and shared eight ties in a critical conference tilt.

The Bear Facts

• Following a 70-65 victory on December 8 in Patchogue, the Lady Bears sweep the season series and stretch their win streak to four against their sibling rivals
• Brooklyn improves their Skyline record to 4-3 and move into a fifth place tie in the standings.

Next up for the Lady Bears

Riding a season-best four consecutive victories, the Lady Bears will hit the road on Tuesday, January 12th for a Skyline Conference tilt against SUNY Old Westbury looking to split the season series. The women will lead off a doubleheader with the men at 5 p.m. with live stats on SJCBears.com.