Resurrection junior guard Bre Sobotka scored five consecutive points midway through the fourth quarter that gave the Bandits a one-point advantage against Trinity, the top-seeded team at the GCAC Red tournament.
The Bandits had an upset in their sights with less than four minutes remaining, but the battle-tested, fifth-ranked Blazers barely blinked.
Senior guard Taylor Nazon buried a three-pointer and Trinity scored the game’s final seven points for the 51-45 win.
“No one panicked,” Trinity coach Ed Stritzel said. “Taylor’s three was big right there. Then, we hit two free throws, and that’s basically the game.”
After going into intermission ahead 12, the Blazers slowly lost their lead until Sobotka finally took it away with her two free throws with 3:19 left in the game.
But Nazon answered with a three-pointer on the other end, and Trinity (21-3) went 4-for-6 on free throws to advance to Saturday’s tournament championship against No. 24 Mother McAuley (19-5). Resurrection (18-10) plays Loyola (18-7) for third place.
“Our team is unbelievably resilient,” Trinity coach Ed Stritzel said. “We take on all comers. When it comes to crunch time, we tend to make the right decisions.”
Nazon scored a game-best 19 points, while junior guard Lauren Prochaska contributed 16 points. Resurrection had three players in double figures, led by junior guard Kelly Barzowski’s 13 points.
