CLAREMONT, Calif. - Sophia North hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer to force overtime, and the University of Chicago women's basketball team was able to escape with a 68-60 road win over Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday afternoon at Roberts Pavilion.
CMS was led by 25 points from
Renee Chong, including a go-ahead three-point play with five seconds left in regulation, but falls to 5-6 on the year with the narrow defeat. Bella Alfaro had 19 points and North had 15 for the Maroons, who improve to 10-1 with the win, with the only loss coming to No. 3 Illinois Wesleyan.
Chicago jumped out to a 9-0 lead and didn't trail until the closing minutes, when a free throw from Amada Kerner put the Athenas ahead 49-48 with 4:31 to play. Chong hit a runner in the paint to make it a 51-48 lead with 1:55 to go, but Alfaro knotted it up with a three-point play on the next possession to tie the score 51-51.
After an exchange of foul shots made it 52-52, CMS got possession with the shot clock off, and elected not to call timeout, putting the ball in the hands of Chong to kill the clock. With the final seconds winding down, Chong drove to her right and hit a runner as she got fouled with 4.9 seconds left.
After Chong converted the foul shot, Chicago called a timeout to advance the ball. The Maroons inbounded to Alfaro, who sent a lateral pass to North coming off a screen at the top of the key 23 feet out. CMS flew out to contest the shot, but North was able to hit it under the pressure to force the extra session.
North then hit another three-pointer off another Alfaro pass to start the scoring on the first possession of overtime, and the Athenas were never able to get back even.
Katie Resendiz hit two foul shots to get CMS within 61-58 with 1:28 left, but Alfaro knocked down another clutch three-pointer with 1:11 to go to make it a six-point lead and the Maroons were able to hang on from there.
CMS forced 29 turnovers on the game to nearly pull off a win on a day it shot 29.7 percent from the floor and was outrebounded 52-29. Chong had a team-high seven rebounds, and Resendiz led the Athenas with three steals.
CMS will be back in action when it returns to SCIAC play with a home game against Occidental on Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
