Box Score Bloomsburg, Pa. – Earlier this season, No. 7 Gannon defeated the Marauders at Pucillo in an overtime thriller and after Friday night's result, it seems as if these teams are developing a penchant for down-to-the-wire classics. But even after getting Gannon on a neutral floor, a floor the Golden Knights hadn't played a game on in nearly four years, wasn't enough to put Millersville on the other end of the result, as they fell 63-62 on Nettie Blake's turnaround desperation bank shot as time expired.
 
With time winding down and the Marauders holding a one-point lead at 62-61, PSAC West Athlete of the Year Jen Papich handed off to Blake on the right side. Just when it looked as though Blake was unaware of how much time was left and would allow the game clock to run out with the ball in her hands, the 6-1 sophomore turned and fired from 12 feet away, breaking the Marauders' hearts.
 
“I thought our defensive scheme was good,” Millersville head coach Mary Fleig said of the final play. “Papich went to drive and (redshirt senior forward Miesha Cousins) did a great job defending, forced her to bobble it and she got it to someone who turned and shot it and it went in.”
 
Gannon advances to the PSAC Championship game, surviving a show-stopping performance from redshirt sophomore guard Carly Gallagher. The 5-9 sharpshooter was brilliant, leading the Marauders with 26 points, one shy of a career high, as she shot 10-of-18 from the floor, including 5-for-8 from 3-point range. The 10 field goals made and five triples were both career-bests.
 
After leading for much of the first half, Millersville saw a 26-24 lead disappear, replaced by a 36-26 deficit heading into halftime. In the final 3:02 of the opening stanza, Gannon's long-range shooting reared its ugly head, as Kelsey McCoy and Brittany Batts knocked down back to back triples to kick off a 12-0 run that closed the first 20 minutes. Before finding itself trailing at the intermission, Millersville was behind only once and the score was tied just twice.
 
The opening 5:19 of the second half was foreshadowing for what came at the end of the game, with the teams trading shots. Then Millersville hit a spark, down nine at 45-36. The Marauders reeled off a 10-0 run to take a one-point lead at 46-45. Gallagher got it started with a free throw, then followed with a fadeaway jumper on the next possession. A layup from freshman guard Celeste Robinson on the next trip down the floor cut the deficit to 45-41.
 
Freshman forward Yasmin Cooper kept the run going on the following Marauder possession, hitting a layup as she was fouled. Cooper, who finished with a career-high 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting in a career-best 34 minutes, made the ensuing free throw to complete the 3-point play. Robinson capped off the rally with a driving layup that forced Gannon head coach Cleve Wright to call a timeout.
 
After that point, neither team took a lead larger than four, with the advantage on the scoreboard changing hands seven times over the final 11:21 of play. The Golden Knights scored the first five points out of the timeout to take a four point lead before an 8-0 Marauder spurt gave Millersville its own four point lead, 54-50. Gallagher started and ended that run with a 3-pointer and a jumper, respectively.
 
Once the Marauder lead dropped under four, the final eight minutes set the stage for a nail biter. The Millersville lead went to three on the back end of two made free throws by redshirt senior Aurielle Mosley, 60-57, with just 3:39 to play. After a Gannon bucket, Mosley brought the lead back to three with just 1:25 play. But the Golden Knights weren't done. They scored the final four points, capped by Blake's bank at the buzzer.
 
Plagued by foul trouble for the majority of the contest, Mosley, the newly named PSAC East Athlete of the Year scored just eight points to go along with seven rebounds. It was the first time since a Jan. 19 loss at West Chester that the York native failed to hit double digits in either category in the same game. As big as Mosley's snapped streak was, it wasn't the longest run broken of the night.
 
Redshirt senior point guard Mashira Newman was blanked in the scoring column for the first time 106 games, going 0-for-6 from the field. The North Hills native did hand out six assists, chip in five steals and pull down four boards. Cousins was second on the team in scoring with 13 points and ripped down eight boards in a career-high 36 minutes of work.
 
Millersville now awaits its fate to see if it will qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA Division II Women's Selection Show will be held Sunday at 10 p.m. You can watch a live feed of the broadcast here.