To put it simply, the Briercrest Clippers women’s basketball team had the Lakeland College Rustlers right where they wanted ‘em.
A seven-point lead early in the fourth quarter after an impressive run over the previous 10 minutes and what looked like a trip to the ACAC Final Four gold medal game on the horizon.
But you don’t put together an undefeated regular season without knowing how to come back late in games, and sure enough, that’s what the Rustlers would do.
Lakeland outscored the Clippers 15-5 over the final 4:05 to overcome a 43-39 deficit and go on to a 54-49 win in their ACAC semifinal in Calgary.
Briercrest was the prohibitive underdog heading into the game, having put together a 13-8 record and needing an 80-47 win over Ambrose College in a play-in game to advance to the Final Four.
Lakeland, on the other hand, was a perfect 20-0 and had scored more points than their opponents on the season.
So when the Rustlers took a 14-6 lead out of the first quarter, it wasn’t a surprise.
What is interesting is what happened over the next 20 minutes.
The Clippers outscored Lakeland 17-13 in the second quarter to trail 27-23 at the break and then put on a defensive clinic to hold the Rustlers to a mere four points in the third quarter, building a 36-31 lead in the process.
Briercrest made it a seven-point game 15 seconds into the final quarter, and after some back-and-forth play over the next four minutes, the Clippers had their five-point lead before Lakeland launched their comeback.
The Rustlers took the lead for good on a three-pointer with 1:54 to play and held on the rest of the way for the five-point win.
Asia Wells led the Clippers offence with 18 points, while Brooklyn Martens had 12 points. Mellissa Ellis had 11 rebounds and Amber Fichtner pulled down 11 boards.
Briercrest now turns their attention to the third-place game on Saturday night, where they’ll look to win their second-straight ACAC bronze medal when they take on the St. Mary’s Lightning. Game time is 6:30 p.m. in Calgary.
