Portland, Ore. | Warner Pacific finished 2019 with a 66-64 win over Walla Walla after a
Kali Kruger bucket with 6.1 seconds left to play on Saturday evening.
The Knights led by as much as 12 in the contest but due to foul trouble and a shooting spree by WWU, the Wolves managed to surge ahead and take an 8-point lead at the 8:02 mark of the third quarter.
The first half was the exchanging of buckets and it seemed every time the Knights pulled away with a lead, the Wolves would claw their way back. With just under four minutes of play in the first half, WPU led by 11 but just before the break, the Wolves managed to close the gap to four.
Coming out of the break, the Knights went on an 8-0 run before a WWU's Isabella Robles three. The Wolves then held the Knights scoreless for the remainder of the quarter, taking a four-point lead heading into the final quarter of play. WPU didn't score again until the 7:30 mark of the fourth quarter, when the Wolves had their largest lead of the night at eight.
With Walla Walla fouling quickly, the Knights would be sent to the line from the 5-minute mark on, picking up 12 points from the stripe in the fourth quarter alone.
As the clock was inching close to triple zeroes and iit seemed Walla Walla might walk off with a win,
Celeste Pantoja sunk a 23-footer to bring the Knights within three with just under two minutes remaining. After an exchange of a couple of Wolves free-throws and a
Payton Whitmore bucket,
Darbi Pink was sent to the stripe. Pink went one for two but
Mya Kirzy grabbed the crucial offensive rebound, getting fouled on the way up. The Junior headed to the line to tie it up and sunk both. With 37 seconds left, the game was tied at 64.
After a Walla Walla timeout and missed jumper, Warner Pacific Head Coach
Matt Gregg called a timeout to draw up a play. With 11 seconds on the clock, Whitmore sent a laser pass from the sideline to
Kali Kruger coming off a screen. Kruger missed, got her own board and completed the put-back. With 6.1 seconds left and no timeouts for WWU, they had to send up a desperation shot that proved unsuccessful and the Knights completed the comeback.
"I was nervous because I didn't want to let my team down" said Kruger when asked about her feelings the moment she found out the play was for her. "Everyone was really supportive and believed in me, which was really helpful and calmed me down a bit."
Warner Pacific moved to 6-7, 3-1 in CCC play with Saturday's victory. The Knights will open 2020 play with a home contest against Southern Oregon on Friday, January 3
rd. Tip-off is set for 530pm.