Varela comes up clutch in the late minutes of Goldey-Beacom’s 67-66 victory over Mercy

Goldey-Beacom leads by ten points after one-quarter of play.

The game started with the Lightning jumping out to an 11-2 lead with 6:42 remaining in the opening quarter. Rory Ciszkowski and Katie Yoder saw the basket clear during this run, as the duo scored all 11 points. They also combined to drain three shots from the three-point line during that stretch.

Goldey-Beacom would add six more points to their score for the rest of the first quarter to take a 17-7 edge into second. 

The Lightning would hold an 11-point lead at the end of the first half.

Goldey would continue to control the flow of the game in the early minutes of the second quarter, as they would go on an 11-4 run to push their lead to 28-11 with 4:47 left in the first half. Sophomore forward Gaia Zimbardo and Rory Ciszkowski scored seven of the team’s 11 points during that stretch.

Mercy would outscore GBC 9-3 for the rest of the second quarter to cut the deficit to 11 points (31-20) at the end of the first half.

GBC would hold a 12-point lead at the end of the third quarter.

Fast forward to the 3:04 minute mark in the third quarter, where junior forward Azuri Abraham would drain a three-pointer to extend Goldey-Beacom’s advantage to 51-34.

About a minute later, the Mavericks would fire back with a 7-2 run to slice the score to 53-41 at the end of the third quarter.

Goldey-Beacom takes home a 67-66 victory!

Mercy would come out in the early minutes of the fourth quarter ready to strike, as the team outscored the Lightning 18-5 to grab a 59-58 lead with 3:46 left in the game.

Fast forward to the 1:41 minute mark, where GBC’s Jenissa Varela stole the ball, and that allowed her teammate Katie Yoder to get in a good position for the layup to give their team a 63-61 edge. 

Starting at the minute mark, Varela would come up clutch for Goldey as she scored their next four points to seal a 67-66 victory. 

Stats:
FG%:	GBC: 37.9%	MU: 43.6%
3P%:	GBC: 37.5%	MU: 40.0%
FT%:	GBC: 77.8%	MU: 66.7%
Rebs:	GBC: 30	MU:40
Ast:	GBC: 14	MU:8
Stl:	GBC: 7	MU: 7
Blks:	GBC:4	MU:5
TO:	GBC: 14	MU:19