Melissa Tatti and Kristin Gallant each hit a free throw in the dying minutes to lift the Brock women's basketball team to an 82-80 victory over the McMaster Marauders in Hamilton on Friday.
Gallant snagged a critical offensive rebound to maintain possession as McMaster was desperate to drive down the court with less than 10 seconds remaining.
"We've been going so strong this year and we couldn't stop that now," said Gallant. "We made this game harder on ourselves by letting up a big lead. I wasn't having the best game offensively and it was the least I could do to give my team the win. We've been improving so much and so many girls worked hard tonight, so we needed to pull through with a win."
Brock improves to 9-1, McMaster falls to 6-3.
"We finally learned to close out a game," said head coach Mike Rao. "We hung on to win. We had two good defensive stops and a massive rebound."
Tatti posted a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, including seven assists.
Sam Keltos registered 18 points and six rebounds and Jessica Morris notched 17 points.
The Badgers led 44-36 at halftime, and led by as many as 15 points. McMaster eventually regained a small lead and held it for most of the fourth quarter.
The tide turned when Keltos and Jenneke Pilling made back-to-back three-point jump shots and the Badgers never let go of the lead the rest of the way.
Pilling finished the game with 11 points and Gallant added 10. Meagan Charbonneau added six points off the bench.
Brock edged McMaster 42-37 in rebounds, and shot 49.2 per cent (31-for-63).
For the Marauders, Christina Buttenham scored a career-high 32 points.
The Badgers head into the holiday break on a six-game win streak and begin a month-long break before returning to regular season action on Jan. 8 at York.
The Badgers will host the Humber Hawks of the OCAA on Friday, Dec. 27 at Bob Davis Gymnasium for an exhibition game at noon.
Brock's next home game will be downtown St. Catharines when they host the Toronto Varsity Blues during Paint the Meridian Red, an OUA regular season game at the Meridian Centre on Saturday, Jan. 11 at 6 p.m. Purchase your tickets here.
