HOUSTON – The Celts of the University of St. Thomas claimed one of their biggest wins in their first season as an NCAA Division III program Monday, defeating Colorado College 74-72.
At UST's Jerabeck Center, the Celts trailed for the first 34 minutes of the contest before taking the lead for good during a wild fourth quarter. The Celts handed Colorado College (7-4) its first loss in four Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference games.
Sheridan Hopkins (Galveston, Texas / Ball HS) scored a game-high 33 points and pulled in nine rebounds to lead the Celts (8-3, 3-1 SCAC). Bresha Orange (Longview, Texas / Panola College) chipped in 11 points.
Aerial Starks (Houston, Texas / A&M Consolidated) scored nine points for the Celts, while teammate Jazz Taylor (Duncanville, Texas / Abilene Christian) added eight points, six of which came in the fourth quarter.
The Celts trailed by as many 13 points early in the second quarter but used an 8-0 run between the period's 7:18 and 4:54 marks to cut the lead to 27-22. That run would foreshadow UST's comeback later in the game.
After a high-scoring third period that saw the teams trade baskets almost evenly, the Celts still trailed by seven points after CC's Talia Cloud sank a pair of free throws with 9:12 remaining in the final period. From there, the Celts embarked on a 16-1 run to establish a 67-59 lead with 2:59 left in the contest. Olivia Anga (Rosharon, Texas / St. Agnes Academy) knocked down a layup and a free throw with 5:09 remaining to give the Celts their first lead of the game; Anga scored seven points Monday.
The Celts still led by eight with a minute remaining before a bit of controversy quickly put Colorado College back in striking distance. Taylor was called for a foul on Cloud and then assessed a technical foul in retaliation during a small confrontation under the basket. Cloud hit both free throws, which was then followed by Jordan Metzler knocking down two free throws to cut UST's lead to 69-65; Cloud scored 20 points Monday, while Metzler added 16.
The technical foul also gave the ball back to Colorado College after the four free throws, but a Tiger turnover gave the ball back to UST. The Celts came away empty on their next possession and the Tigers responded with another layup by Cloud, who was also fouled and sank another free throw to cut UST's lead to 69-68 with 18 seconds to play in the contest.
Hopkins was immediately fouled, and she hit one out of two free throws to build UST's lead back to two points. After a Colorado College timeout, Anga forced a steal and got the ball to Hopkins for an uncontested layup with five seconds left as the UST crowd went wild.
Another timeout setup Cloud for another layup with two seconds left. The Tigers then fouled Jazz Taylor, who then sank two more free throws with a second left on the clock to give the Celts a 74-70 advantage. A UST foul with 0.4 seconds showing on the clock gave the CC two more free throws before the game finally ended.
The Celts return to action Friday, Jan. 3, when they visit San Antonio to face Trinity as part of a two-game road trip. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
