SHATAYA “THE PLAYA” GIVES THE INFERNO A WIN WITH HER BUZZER BEATER

MILWAUKEE — Shataya McComb (Kingston, N.Y.) hit a fade-away 3-point basket at the buzzer to give Alverno College a 56-53 victory over visiting Lakeland College tonight in Reiman Gymnasium.

With .5 seconds remaining Alverno College’s Kristen Speerschneider  inbounded from half court to McComb who turned and shot from the right wing and hit nothing but net as the
buzzer sounded.

“It feels good, too good!” said McComb. “When Coach was drawing up the
play, I was just thinking about the shot I hit in the Northland game to
send it to overtime. When I let it go I knew it was in.”

McComb finished the night with nine points, and made the Inferno’s only
3-point basket of the night, which couldn’t have come at a better time.

“We executed the play to perfection,” Alverno head coach Brad Duckworth
said. “I thought we’d have a little bit more time when I called the
timeout, so when they put .5 on the clock I was happy because I knew we
could turn and shoot the basketball.

“I trust a lot of players on our team to take that shot, but Shataya has
made that shot so many times. She loves that moment. You go all the way
back to the Northland game when she made another shot like that to go to
overtime.”

The Inferno (8-9, 5-6 Northern Athletics Conference) trailed almost the
entire second half until Gabby Allen (Milwaukee/Bay View) scored a layup
with 1:09 to play for the 51-49 lead.

Lakeland’s Rachel Diedrich (Two Rivers, Wis.) hit a pair of free throws
to tie the game on the next possession, but Alverno’s Alicia Kontowski
(South Milwaukee, Wis.) found McComb on the left side of the paint for
another go-ahead score.

Diedrich would miss a layup on the Muskies’ (7-10, 4-7) next possession,
forcing the visitors to foul. Kontowski, a 74 percent career free-throw
shooter, missed a pair giving the Muskies one more chance with 15
seconds left.

Lakeland’s Becky Mayo (Gladstone, Mich.) hit a 15-footer with 6 seconds
remaining to tie the game at 53-53. The Inferno struggled to get the
ball up the floor forcing Duckworth to call a timeout. The clock
initially read .3, but the officials corrected the time to .5, leading
to the final play.

“It was an unbelievable play,” said Duckworth, “but everybody had to do
their part. And how fun. What a great win.”

Kontowski recorded a double-double with 15 points and a game-high 14
rebounds, while Allen added 13 points and two blocks. McComb had a
game-high four assists for the Inferno.