THE FACTS
No. 10 Gettysburg (27-2) 55, Western New England (25-4) 52
What: NCAA Div. III women's basketball tournament second round
When: Saturday, Mar. 8
Where: Gettysburg, Pa.
THE SKINNY STORY
Gettysburg found itself trailing 50-42 when Western New England hit back-to-back 3-pointers. Cue the final media timeout with 5:00 to play and enter
Shinya Lee (Rochester, N.Y./Holderness Prep School) for Gettysburg. Eight points, four blocked shots and four rebounds later and the senior willed her team to a 55-52 come-from-behind win in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Div. III women's basketball championship tournament.
THE LEADERS
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Shinya Lee finished the night with 14 points, 11 rebounds, seven blocked shots and two steals to lead the Bullets.
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AB Holsinger (Charlottesville, Va./Langley) added 11 points and four assists.
FOR THE FOES
• Lilly Hedge led the Golden Bears with 17 points and 17 rebounds.
THE REST OF THE STORY
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Kimberly Hopkins (Baldwin, N.Y./Sacred Heart Academy), who was a late addition to the starting lineup, opened the game with a driving layup to stake Gettysburg to a 3-0 lead. The Bullets went up 4-1 before four straight points from Lilly Hedge gave Western New England a 5-4 edge. The quarter featured five ties and five lead changes en route to a 20-15 Golden Bears lead after one period.
• The second-quarter advantage remained between three and six points until a pair of Holsinger drives to the hoop in the final 90 seconds cut the deficit to 28-26 at the break.
• Hopkins opened the third period with six straight point, canning a triple and converting a traditional three-point play to put Gettysburg in front 32-28 two minutes into the stanza. Hedge broke the Western New England drought with 5:21 showing but
Shinya Lee had the answer at the other end. An Emma Kahn 3-pointer sparked an 11-0 Golden Bear run that opened up a 41-34 lead in the final minute but
Ava O'Neil (Chevy Chase, Md./St. John College) hit a bucket on the break at the end of the period to close the margin to 43-38 entering the final 10 minutes.
• Two free throws each from
Skylar Reale (Warren, N.J./Morristown Beard) and
Reagan Chrencik (New Hope, Pa./New Hope-Solebury) closed the deficit to 43-42 with 8:11 to play. Western New England, however, responded with seven straight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers from Sophie Hedge to take the eight-point lead to the final media timeout. Out of the stoppage, Lee hit a turnaround from in close then blocked a pair of shots on the other end. After drawing a foul with 3:46 to play, she hit both free throws to make it a 50-46 game. She then converted two more from the charity stripe a minute later to cut the margin to two. Just 42 seconds later, Lee went back to the line and sunk both to tie the game with a pair of blocked shots between free-throw attempts. Lily Hedge momentarily stemmed the tide and put the Golden Bears back in front with 1:31 to play.
Emily Violante (Easton, Pa./Easton Area) hit the first of two free throws to make it a one-point game. Holsinger then drove the lane in the final minute and kicked out to O'Neil in the right corner and the freshman buried the shot with 41 ticks remaining. Hopkins came up with a steal on the other end and made one free throw to make it a three-point game and the Bullets withstood a pair of Sophie Hedge game-tying 3-point attempts in the waning seconds.
THE INSIDE STORY
• Gettysburg advances to the third round – and second weekend – for the first time since 2018 with the victory.
• The 27th win of the season established a new program record for wins in a season.
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Kimberly Hopkins finished with nine points, two assists and two steals.
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Ava O'Neil contributed seven points.
NEXT UP
Gettysburg returns to action in the opening game of the sectional against No. 14 Randolph-Macon on Friday. The site of the sectional and game times will be announced on Sunday.
