COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Trinity women's basketball team rallied late in the fourth quarter to pull off a comeback 70-66 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference win at Colorado College on Saturday afternoon. (PHOTO CREDIT: Matthew Silvermann/Colorado College Athletics)

Hailey Coleman (Kansas City, Mo. / St. Teresa's Academy) got free under the basket and scored the game-winning layup with 0.5 seconds left to break a 66-66 tie. Ashlyn Milton (Amarillo, Texas / Amarillo) recorded a crucial steal on the previous possession, keeping Colorado College from a chance to break the tie, and setting up Coleman's winning score.

The two Tiger teams met three times last year with Colorado College sweeping the regular season, and Trinity winning at home in the SCAC Championship game. Trinity and Colorado College will match up again in San Antonio next weekend.

The Rundown

The two teams traded leads early in the first quarter, but Trinity took control of the period with a 7-0 spurt that gave the visitors a 13-7 advantage. Trinity still led by five with under 90 seconds to go, but Colorado College went 4-for-4 at the line in the final minute to make it a 15-14 Trinity lead after one.

The nip-and-tuck game continued into the second quarter and the game was tied 23-23 near the midway point. Colorado College scored 11 unanswered points to break the tie after that point, though Trinity got the last score of the half in the final seconds to make it a 34-25 deficit at the break.

Trinity shot under 25% from the field in the first half, including a dreadful 1-for-18 performance from beyond the arc.

The third quarter was much like the first in that neither team could put together a significant run to affect the scoring differential. Trinity got no closer than a seven-point deficit – the first time coming after a three-pointer from Julia Ackerman (Orange County, Calif. / JSerra Prep) with 6:34 left in the quarter. It was an eight-point lead with under three minutes left when Colorado College strung together five straight points to grab its biggest lead of the game at 53-41. Trinity battled back with a pair of buckets to close the quarter, though, and the teams entered the fourth quarter with Colorado College leading 53-45.

After Colorado College started the fourth quarter with two scores to push the lead back to 12 points, Trinity capped a 7-0 run with a three-pointer from Milton to make it a 52-57 game with just under eight minutes to play. Colorado College broke up that streak after a Trinity timeout, but Milton knocked down another triple to finish five straight Trinity points to cut the lead to just two at 57-59.

The lead inched out to five points again as Colorado College hit a three-pointer with 5:28 to play, but Trinity tied things up 62-all with five straight points over the next 2:10. Trinity forced back-to-back turnovers after the game was tied, then took the lead on a layup from Maggie Shipley (Arlington, Va. / Yorktown) with 2:26 to play.

Colorado College hit just 1-of-2 at the line, but couldn't convert after rebounding the missed free throw. Maggie Robbins (Plano, Texas / Plano) knocked down a pair of foul shots of her own to make it a 66-63 Trinity advantage, then neither team scored again until the final minute. Trinity missed a pair of shots, but continued to force turnovers. Colorado College hit its first field goal since the 5:28 mark with just 37 seconds remaining, tying the game 66-66.

Coleman's first attempt at a go-ahead score was a missed shot with 12 seconds to go, which set Colorado College up for a chance to take back the lead. Instead, Milton got the steal and Trinity called timeout with 2.5 seconds left. Following Coleman's game-winning shot, Colorado College called timeout to set up its own play – except that Colorado College was out of timeouts, which resulted in a technical foul and a turnover. Milton put the finishing touches on the game by making the ensuing free throws.

Numbers to Note

Shipley led all scorers with 22 points on 10-of-20 shooting, adding a career-high six assists, and tying her career high with four steals. Her final assist came on the inbounds pass to Coleman for the game-winner.

Milton hit 7-for-13 from the field for a 19-point afternoon, scoring three of Trinity's five three-pointers in the game, and recording five steals. She hit two of those three-pointers in the fourth quarter to fuel Trinity's rally, and her steal in the final seconds set up the game-winning play.

Coleman finished with 12 points and a team-best seven rebounds, connecting on 6-of-10 shots. She also dished out three assists and recorded a pair of steals.

Carly Leong (Palo Alto, Calif. / Palo Alto) paced the Tiger bench scoring with seven points, adding three rebounds and two steals.

Kelly Simmons (Washington, D.C. / Antonian) finished with six rebounds and three steals for the Tigers as well.

Trinity recorded 20 steals and forced 31 total turnovers in the game, leading to a 31-10 advantage in points off turnovers. Trinity also had a 16-point scoring margin in the paint (42-26) and committed just 10 turnovers of its own. After hitting just one three-pointer in the first half, Trinity shot 4-of-10 in the final two quarters.

Coach Speak

"In the words of the greatest American hero of all time, Forrest Gump, 'I'm kinda tired…I think I'll go home now'," said Head Coach Cameron Hill after the comeback win. "This team is like a box of chocolates: you may never know what you're gonna get, but no matter what, it's chocolate."

Up Next

Trinity returns home next weekend for a rematch with its road trip opponents from this weekend, beginning with Friday night's game against the University of St. Thomas at 8:00 p.m. Trinity and Colorado College will meet up again on Sunday, January 23, at 3:00 p.m.