Eagles Overcome Early Deficit, Rally Past Panthers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Avila women's basketball pulled off one of the largest comebacks in recent team history on Saturday afternoon in Mabee Fieldhouse, flipping what was once a 15-point deficit in the first half into a lead as large as 18 points in the second half – a 33-point swing in an eventual 86-72 victory for the Eagles (2-7, 2-2 KCAC) over York (2-5, 1-3 KCAC).

With a large crowd on hand – including members of Avila's 2019-20 women's basketball team that was honored for its 2020 KCAC Tournament championship – on the last weekend before finals, the Eagles saved their best for last, scoring a whopping 32 points on 71% field goal shooting in the fourth quarter alone to complete the comeback and ultimately cruise past the Panthers, earning their second victory of the season.

The Eagles struggled out of the gates, finding it difficult to break York's press and keep the Panthers off the board. Avila's offense was by no means bad, but the Panthers shot 50% from the field in the first quarter and nearly 65% from the field in the second quarter to build a big early lead. That lead swelled to as many as 15 points, 36-21, almost exactly halfway through the second quarter after the visitors got off to a fast start in the period before Avila finally started to chip away, thanks largely to a couple of clutch three-pointers from Hannah Smith.

Avila was able to pare the deficit down to 45-35 at the halftime break, but they weren't able to make much further headway into that disadvantage until the tail end of the third quarter: after Hannah Pinkston scored to get Avila within six Monique Contreras provided yet another Panther counterpunch to keep York in front 54-46 with 2:33 to play, and that's when the Eagles caught fire. Marlie Wright made a layup and then set up Smith for another three before Daisy Washington completed an and-one, helping Avila close the third quarter on a 9-1 run and pull all the way back to within 55-54 after three.

Clara Romero scored first in the fourth quarter to keep the Panthers in front, but Avila answered with five straight points from Pinkston to vault in front for the first time since early in the first quarter. Jess McGrath hit a clutch three for York to make it a one-point game again, but Pinkston immediately countered with one of her own with seven minutes left, and that proved to be the dagger. The Panthers went silent over the next three minutes, and eventually Smith nailed another three to give Avila a double-digit lead for the first time with five minutes left to play.

 The Eagles were far from done. Abrianna Leiker then took over, scoring five straight points to stretch the lead to 15 halfway through the fourth – matching the deficit the Eagles faced in the other direction at the same point of the second quarter – before Madilyn Melton completed an and-one to put Avila up 79-61 with four minutes to go. York stuck around down the stretch but the hole was far too deep for the Panthers to climb out of with four minutes left, and Avila coasted to an 86-72 victory.

Destiny Shepherd led the Panthers with 12 points before fouling out in the fourth, while Imani Honey had a strong all-around game with eight points, nine rebounds, four assists and three steals. Pinkston paced the Eagles with a game-high 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting, one more field goal than Melton, who finished with 18 points along with five boards, two assists and three steals. Smith scored a season-high 14, and Wright scored 11 along with an impressive nine assists.

Up next, Avila women's basketball will make the trip over to Springfield to face the KCAC's newest member, Evangel, for the first time this year. The two former HAAC foes will face off on Wednesday, December 6, with the women kicking off the doubleheader at 5:30 and the men to follow at 7:30; as always, you can watch all the action live and for free on the KCAC Network.