MOUNT VERNON –
Erin Knowles delivered the biggest bucket of her bright collegiate career and kept Cornell's women's basketball team undefeated in the Midwest Conference with a 54-53 nail-biter over Grinnell Wednesday night inside the Small Athletic and Wellness Center.
Knowles tossed in the game-winning shot with 7.4 seconds remaining as the Rams (6-3 overall, 3-0 MWC) overcame a late charge by Grinnell (7-4 overall, 1-2 MWC) to claim their fifth consecutive victory.
The Rams led for all but 10 seconds of the contest, although found themselves trailing 53-52 after Grinnell's Nora Lynch hit two free throws with 17 seconds left.
With no timeouts at their disposal, the Rams got the ball to Knowles at the top of the key and the clocking ticking down. The 6-foot-1 freshman forward slithered through two defenders and flipped in a contested off-balanced shot in the paint as she hit the floor.
Knowles' 22nd and 23rd points of the game were undoubtedly the toughest for the No. 1 scorer in the MWC, who also finished the night with nine rebounds and four steals.
Grinnell misfired on a 3-point attempt from the wing as time expired. The Pioneers had gone on a 12-0 run prior to Knowles' late heroics.
The Rams held Grinnell to 29.8 percent shooting for the game. Cornell led by as many as 15 points in the third quarter.
Tenley Cavanagh gave Cornell a spark off the bench with nine points on three 3-pointers.
Maya Hodge and
Heidi Jorgensen netted eight points apiece. Hodge also had five rebounds.
Reagan Wells added three steals.
Coming up – The Rams travel to play Beloit (0-9 overall, 0-2 MWC) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Beloit, Wis.
