Elise Carline delivered in the dying seconds to cap a wild opening night.
The teenage forward hit two free throws to secure an 82-80 win for the Andy Bay Falcons, toppling the South Pac Magic as women’s club basketball began on Tuesday.
That followed Varsity’s 57-34 win over Ajax in the early game, creating an almost unheard of situation of Ajax and the Magic losing on the same night.
It was also the most impressive win from the Falcons in recent history.
They had to withstand a rapid comeback from a strong Magic team to pull it off, though.
The teams remained even throughout most of the first quarter, before an Alexa Duff three-pointer gave the Falcons breathing room to end the quarter 24-20.
From there they went on a 17-5 run to open the second quarter, forward Brittany Richards (29 points) scoring nine of those in a row to give the Falcons a 41-25 lead.
That became 45-32 at halftime and, while the Magic stemmed the flow in the third quarter, the margin hovered around 10 points.
However, the Magic had a run in it, and that came early in the fourth quarter.
Elly Koehler (14 points), in her first game after transferring from Varsity, hit three quick-fire triples to pull the Magic to within touching distance.
That followed a three-pointer from Dayna Turnbull (10 points), who also scored twice after Koehler’s run to bring the Magic back to within one.
It briefly took the lead on a Georgia Te Au (11 points) basket, before Koehler added another to make it 74-71.
But the Falcons hit back late.
Carline (15 points) hit a three-pointer to tie the score at 76-76, before Richards scored twice to give the Falcons a four-point buffer.
But the Magic once again hit back through Millie Simpson (18 points) and Josephine Ripley (14 points) to make it 80-80.
Carline had the final say, though.
She got to the line and hit a pair of clutch free throws to tip the Falcons over the edge.
Earlier Varsity dominated the first three quarters to claim a comprehensive victory over the three-time defending champion Ajax.
Point guard Caitlin O’Connell top-scored with 16 points, while backcourt partner Tyler Mitchell added 12, as the students piled on a lead which reached 31 points.
Ajax could not get its offence going.
It was unable to break double-figures in any of the opening three quarters and trailed 51-20 at the end of the third quarter.
Teenage guard Ryan Dailey top-scored with 10 points for Ajax.
