Trinity's Albano sinks McAuley in the end

Junior guard Monica Albano hit two free throws with 2.4 seconds to play to lift visiting No. 20 Trinity to a 58-57 victory over No. 25 McAuley in a GCAC Red thriller Thursday night.

With the score tied at 56-56, Albano nailed both of her free throws to put Trinity (18-4, 5-1) ahead.

However, Albano then committed her fifth foul on an inbounds play and McAuley (13-6, 2-2) had a chance to tie. Junior forward Sophie Newson missed the first of two free throws with 1.1 seconds left. She made the second, but the Blazers were able to inbound the ball and run out the clock.

"Monica is still recovering from a sprained ankle, but I knew she'd make the free throws," Trinity senior center Amanda Macchione said. "She's awesome."

Macchione scores a game-high 22 points and added 13 rebounds. Albano scored 10 of her 14 points in the second half.

The Blazers looked to be in control when junior point guard Shakyia Vassar scored on a layup with 6:56 to play in the game. Vassar (11 points) came out of the game with a hip pointer injury late in the fourth quarter.

Without Vassar the Blazers made 11 fourth quarter turnovers, including four in a 22-second span. As a result, the Mighty Macs rallied, cutting the lead to 56-55 on two free throws by senior guard Mo Sullivan with 54.8 seconds to play.

Following a missed Blazers free throw, McAuley missed a three-pointer. But the Mighty Macs grabbed the rebound and Sullivan was fouled with 13.4 seconds left. She made the second free throw to knot the game for the first time since the first quarter.

Despite the hip pointer, Vassar came in for the final 13.4 seconds.

"She's the crazy one on our team," Macchione said of Vassar. "She controls our pace and when she went out that interrupted our flow.

"I still felt we were going to win, even at the end. We love coming in and taking the win on their court, plus it was a conference game too."

Trinity senior forward Erica Cross, whose father Russell led Manley to the 1980 Class AA state title and later played at Purdue , added eight points.

A three-pointer by Vassar gave Trinity a 13-11 lead with 1:40 left in the first quarter. That started an 11-2 Blazers burst that put them ahead 21-13 in the first two minutes of the second quarter.

The Mighty Macs closed within 21-20 on a free throw by Newson with 3:05 left in the first half. Macchione and Cross each had four points as Trinity responded with a quick 10-0 run and went on to a 33-23 halftime lead. Macchione had 18 points and 10 rebounds at intermission.

"We missed box-outs and you have to get a body on (Macchione)," McAuley coach Karen Ade said. "When you only play the last six minutes it doesn't help. But I'm proud of the effort at the end. We could have thrown in the towel and we didn't."

Sullivan led McAuley with 15 points, 13 of them in the second half and eight in the fourth quarter. Newson finished with 14 points, six of them coming in the fourth quarter.