Holy Redeemer was on the road and on the brink of suffering its first loss in Wyoming Valley Conference Division 2 girls basketball play.
That is, until the Lady Royals forced turnovers to turn around their game at Nanticoke.
Holy Redeemer made it to overtime by inducing three Nanticoke turnovers in the last 30 seconds of regulation Wednesday night on the way to a 58-52 victory that allowed the Lady Royals to remain undefeated in the division and in sole possession of first place.
The Lady Royals fell behind 12-2 late in the first quarter and trailed throughout until scoring 10 of the last 12 points of regulation to wipe out an eight-point deficit in the last two minutes.
Holy Redeemer outscored Nanticoke, 11-5, in the four-minute overtime period after managing just 9 points in the entire 16 minutes of the first half. All the Holy Redeemer points came in the last two minutes.
Bella Boylan scored all five of her points in the overtime.
Jillian DelBalso, Meghan Albrecht and Lucie Racicky all scored during both the fourth-quarter comeback and the deciding overtime period.
Albrecht’s two free throws with 21.3 seconds left completed the comeback and forced overtime.
Boylan’s 3-pointer with 1:48 left in overtime erased the last deficit and finally gave the Lady Royals a 50-48 lead. She scored again from a step inside the foul line with 1:25 left to make it 52-50.
Albrecht turned a diving steal in the backcourt into an assist to set up Racicky’s three-point play that put Holy Redeemer ahead to stay, 55-52, with 52.5 seconds left.
The Lady Royals wound up scoring the last six points of the game with Albrecht making one of two free throws and DelBalso hitting two.
DelBalso scored 14 of her team-high 19 points after halftime.
Albrecht added 12 points. Racicky had nine, including seven after halftime.
Nanticoke’s Claire Aufiero scored 22 points. She had 13 in the second half and two more in overtime.
Caitlyn Majiros added 10 points for Nanticoke.
Holy Redeemer improved to 6-0 in the division and 9-7 overall.
Nanticoke is 3-3 and 5-11.
In other Wednesday night games involving WVC Division 2 girls basketball teams:
Wyoming Area 51, Wyoming Seminary 35
Morgan Janeski outscored host Wyoming Seminary by herself in each of the first two quarters of Wyoming Area’s win.
Janeski scored 23 of her 32 points in the first half. She also grabbed seven rebounds and blocked six shots.
Wyoming Area (4-2, 9-6) led 15-6 after one quarter with the help of 12 points, including a 3-pointer and a three-point play, by Janeski.
Janeski scored 11 more in the second quarter and the Lady Warriors took a 28-16 halftime lead.
Jocelyn Williams added 10 points in the win.
Ellie Parra and Clare Griffin led Wyoming Seminary (2-4, 6-6) with eight points each.
Lake-Lehman 59, Hanover Area 16
Lia Keefe scored 10 points and Hailey Kline had eight as Lake-Lehman opened a 28-3 lead after one quarter and coasted from there to win its fifth straight.
Keefe finished with 14 points while Kline and Brenna Hunt had 8 each.
The Lady Knights improved to 5-1 and 10-4.
Hannah Solweski hit a 3-pointer for Hanover Area in the first quarter and led the team with five points.
Lincoln Leadership Academy Charter 47, MMI Prep 23
Lincoln Leadership ran out to a 30-4 lead after one quarter and held visiting MMI Prep scoreless in the third quarter.
Bria Kringe led MMI Prep with 15 points.
