Phoenixville, Pa.—The Keystone College women's basketball team erased a six-point deficit with 1:24 remaining before Valley Forge's senior guard Bailey Mayforth drained a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left and added a free throw moments later to seal the Patriots' 79-75 victory.
Mayforth finished with 24 points and junior forward Jhanel Brown added 20 points and 10 rebounds as Valley Forge evened its record at 7-7. The Patriots, who opened up a 38-29 halftime lead, also received 12 points and six rebounds from sophomore guard Natalie Cortes.
Keystone, which fell to 3-15, was led by sophomore center
Maddy Moro (Danville, Pa./Danville Area) with a season-high 25 points and 16 rebounds in 27 minutes of action and senior guard
Nina Hodanich (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton) contributed 15 points. The Giants also received 11 points apiece from freshman forward
Samy Farah (Sterling, Va./Potomac Falls) and freshman guard
Bre Moore (Charleston, W.Va./Pennwood).
The Giants trailed throughout much of the fourth period before taking a 65-64 lead on a 3-pointer by junior guard
Sydney Craig (Waterbury, Conn./W.F. Kaynor Technical) with 3:55 remaining. Mayforth regained the lead for the Patriots with a 3-pointer on Valley Forge's next possession and Brown followed with a lay-up to make it a four-point lead with 3:19 left.
Keystone cut it to one on a 3-pointer by freshman guard
Autum Kitajima (Williamsport, Pa./Wellsboro Area) before a Cortes lay-up, a tip-in by Brown and another lay-up by Cortes during a 6-1 run put the Patriots ahead 75-69 with 1:24 remaining. The Giants then answered with six straight points—two free throws by Moore and a jump shot followed by two free throws by Moro—to tied it for the 11
th time, 75-75, with 20 seconds left.
That's when Mayforth took over, burying the game-winning 3-pointer and following it up one of two free throws after Moore missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with six seconds left.
Moro's double-double in points and rebounds was her fourth of the season.
Keystone will close out a two-game non-conference road trip this Monday, January 29, against Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York, beginning at 6:00 p.m.
