BUFFALO, N.Y. – The Villa Maria College women's basketball team were at home on Wednesday and celebrated their seniors prior to tip-off to thank them for their contribution to the program. Once the game began, it was a slow start for the Vikings but they gathered themselves and mounted a comeback to defeat Bryant and Stratton Syracuse, 73-72. As the season begins to wind down, Villa has a record of 14-8. 
 
The first quarter was tough for Villa as they fell behind 17-2 in the opening six minutes of action They began to answer back and got their offense rolling thanks to six points by senior Chmicka Kennedy and an important three-pointer by Shanughnessy Bennett. At the end of the first frame, the Vikings trailed the Bobcats 25-14. The beginning of the second-quarter once again began slowly for Villa, falling behind by as many as 17 points on multiple occasions, the latest coming at the 5:27 mark. The Vikings managed to stop the bleeding and cut their deficit to 44-31 at half-time. 
 
Head coach, Mike McCarthy, made his adjustments at the break and the team began to work together to chip away at the Bobcats lead. The first run occurred in the opening minutes of the second-half with a layup by Bennett and Autum Adams-Edwards cut the deficit to 12, and then senior forward Leah McQuiller, knocked down two free-throws to shrink it to 10 points. With 4:54 to play Maria Falanga contributed two more free-throws to bring the score to 49-41 in favor of the Bobcats. Bryant and Stratton responded with points of their own to re-extend their lead to 16 with two minutes to go, but Villa was prepared to strike back. Falanga scored eight consecutive unanswered points before Adams-Edwards made a fast break layup to cut the deficit to six points going into the final quarter of the game. 
 
The fourth quarter was as intense as you can get. The Vikings continued to be patient on offense and force mistakes on defense and at the 7 minutes mark, Falanga was able to make a layup and tie the game at 60-60, completing the comeback. From that point, the two teams were battling and trading points, but after a clutch three-pointer by McQuiller with 3:34 to play, Falanga knocked down two more free-throws to give Villa their first lead of the night at 67-66. The Bobcats pushed their lead to three points twice in the final two minutes, but with under a minute to play, Kennedy made the game winning layup and the Vikings held on to win 73-72. 
 
Falanga went to the free throw line 19 times and made 13 of them to total 29 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, both of which were season highs. The two seniors both tallied double-digit scoring. McQuiller finished with 13 points, three blocks, three assists and three made three-pointers. Kennedy totaled 12 points, five rebounds and two steals. 
 
Villa remain at home this Saturday, February 12 when they host the University of Cincinnati-Claremont at 12 p.m. at the Villa Athletic Center. 
 
Be sure to stay up to date on all of your Viking's scores and news by following @VillaVikings on Twitter, @villavikings on Instagram and by liking the "Villa Maria Vikings" Facebook page.