TROY — The University at Albany women’s basketball finally showed that it could make a winning — or at least tying — play in the final seconds of a game.
Down one with less than three seconds left, junior forward Kayla Cooper went up for a layup. Her attempt missed, but she drew a foul — senior guard Clare Traeger bumped her.
With no time left on the clock, Cooper stepped to the free throw line and made one of two shots, sending the game to overtime, in which the Great Danes (17-10, 11-2 America East) outscored Binghamton (13-12, 6-6) 11-1 for a 63-53 win.
“I really just try to block out all the noise and everything, and I shoot free throws every day in practice, and I know how to knock them down. I just knew I had to make one, so that’s all I really was thinking in my head,” Cooper said.
Once in overtime, fifth-year forward Lucia Decortes made critical defensive plays, recording three of her four blocks, including rejecting Binghamton’s first shot attempt. She also scored the first points of extra time, getting the ball from senior guard Fatima Lee for an uncontested layup.
“It doesn’t take talent to play good defense, so it’s just like, you have to be focused on the scout and be focused on what you need to do to not make them score. I feel like we were all in the zone. You could tell. Like, everyone was so focused. We were talking, and we wanted to win the game,” Decortes said.
The two previous games in which UAlbany trailed by one possession or less in the final seconds, at Maine and Vermont, were both losses.
“I think our players really needed this for our confidence,” Mullen said.
Cooper led the Great Danes with 17 points and nine rebounds. Senior forward Helene Haegerstrand had 16 points and six boards. She fouled out with 1:45 left in overtime, but not before hitting a…
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