12/18/21
 
CATONSVILLE, Md. – After falling into a double-digit hole at the half, and trailing by 27 points late in the third quarter, the Lackawanna College Falcons women's basketball team mounted a furious rally that saw them close within five points with 90 seconds to play. Unfortunately, the Falcons couldn't complete the comeback, and fell 84-77 on Saturday afternoon against CCBC-Catonsville on the road.
 
Trailing 61-34 with 2:45 to play in the third quarter, the Falcons (4-4) began a 23-2 run that spanned the final three minutes of the third, and the first two-and-a-half minutes of the fourth, getting themselves within six points at 63-57. The lead yo-yoed between six and eleven points several times throughout the quarter, until the Falcons hit two three pointers in back-to-back possessions to get within 80-75 with 1:25 remaining, outscoring the Cardinals 41-19 over an 11:20 span of game time.
 
Lackawanna had a chance to get closer, but lost the ball on a turnover with a minute to play, which Catonsville (7-5) turned into points on the ensuing possession. After a pair of Nya Morris free throws made it 82-77 with 47 seconds to go, the Falcons forced a turnover and had the ball with another chance to close within one possession, but an Ashanté Amos three-pointer missed, and the Cardinals scored on the other end for the final points of the ball game.
 
Morris led all scorers with a season-high 37 points, going 11-for-22 from the field, and hitting 12-of-13 free throws in the contest. She was one of two Falcons players in double-figures, as Amos had 14 points, while both McKeyah Duley and Thays Torres added nine points, apiece. Lackawanna College had a season-high eleven made three-point shots, but had 31 turnovers, and shot just 28% from the field through the first three quarters, before scoring 32 points while shooting 58% over the final frame.
 
CCBC-Catonsville dominated the paint, outscoring the Falcons 56-22 in the paint, and scoring 33 points off of Lackawanna College turnovers, while placing three players in double-figures, all over 20 points. The Cardinals had 17 steals on the day, and outrebounded Lackawanna College by a nine rebound margin.
 
The first quarter started slowly for both teams, with the Falcons scoring first, on two free throws from Morris, at the 8:15 mark of the quarter. A Torres three-pointer made it 7-6 Falcons with 6:29 to go, but that would be the last lead for the Falcons, as Lackawanna would go the next 5:20 without a bucket, falling behind 20-7 and committing seven turnovers over that span, before a Gabrielle Jackson lay-up broke the scoreless streak.
 
Trailing 20-9 after one, the Falcons continued to struggle, committing eight turnovers and going 5-for-15 from the field, while the Cardinals opened up a 20-point lead, late in the quarter. Nya Morris was the lone bright-spot, scoring ten of the 13 Falcons points in the quarter, including a jumper late in the quarter to make it 40-22 heading into the break.
 
The Falcons hit three straight three-pointers in the third quarter, the last being an Amos shot to cut the lead to 49-31 with 7:50 to go in the quarter, but the Cardinals answered every shot, and went on a 12-to-3 run over the next five minutes, holding Lackawanna College without a field goal, as the lead ballooned to a game-high 27 at 61-34 with 2:45 to play in the third.
 
After an 11-2 run to close the third, the Falcons started the fourth with 12 straight points to close the gap to 63-57 with 7:13 to play after a Cianna Roberts jumper. Out of a timeout, Catonsville got a three-point play, followed by a lay-up, to lengthen the lead back out to eleven, before the Falcons closed the gap again behind a Morris lay-up and a Duley three, making it 68-62 with 4:48 to play. A mini 6-2 run from the Cardinals put it back at ten, and the Cardinals managed to make it a 78-67 lead with just over two minutes to play, before Lackawanna made their final push, thanks to a Daeja Cromartie lay-up, and a pair of triples from Amos and Morris.
 
 The women's basketball team ends the 2021 portion of their season at 4-4, and now heads into their holiday break. Lackawanna College will be back in action on Thursday, January 6^th, when they take on the JV team from Misericordia University. That game is set for a 5:00pm ET tip-off.