Box Score Sam Baro drilled a three-pointer with 12 seconds remaining to lift the Misericordia University women's basketball team to a thrilling 74-71 win over Otterbein at the Smokey Ballenger Classic, Saturday evening in Westerville, Ohio.

Baro's game-winner capped a furious rally as the Cougars overcame a 17-point deficit in the final seven minutes.

Hannah Seely led the Cougars with 18 points while Justine Seely added 15 and Sam Baro had 14 points, including the game-winner.

Trailing, 68-51, late in the second half, MU went on a 20-3 run to tie it, 71-71, with less than 30 seconds to play.

After a free throw by Justine Seely, four different players made layups and Sam Baro connected on her first three-pointer of the game to get MU within five, 68-63, with 3:42 to play.

Hannah Seely went coast-to-coast with a steal for a layup and Sam Baro's jumper in the lane made it 68-67 with 2:10 to go.

Otterbein finally broke the streak within a pair of free throws, but Sam Baro's driving layup got MU back within one with a minute to play.

Out of a timeout, Nikki Baro quickly found Justine Seely for a layup to tie the score, 71-71, with under 30 seconds to play.

After forcing a turnover, Justine Seely found Sam Baro for the game-winning three-pointer and Otterbein's potential game-tying shot was off the mark.

Down 41-32 at halftime, the Cougars scored the first seven points of the second half to get within two points in less than three minutes.

Hannah Seely sandwiched a pair of free throws between two layups and Katie Drayton finished the run with a free throw to cut the Otterbein lead to 41-39 with 17:34 to play.

But, the Cardinals answered with a 16-3 spurt to take a 57-42 lead with 12:09 remaining.

Otterbein used a 7-0 run in the final minute of the first half to take 41-32 halftime lead.

The Cougars took an early six-point lead.  Lauren Oertner and Katie Drayton hit back-to-back jumpers and Shannon Croasdale converted a steal into a pull up jumper at the other end for a 14-8 lead six minutes into the game.

Otterbein eventually built a seven-point lead, but MU battled back to it, 29-29, with 4:19 to play in the first half.

Down, 25-18, Croasdale started the rally when with a put back and a free throw and added a fast break layup off a feed from Katie Drayton to get Misericordia within two.

Nikki Baro's jumper eventually pulled the Cougars even and both teams went scoreless for more than two minutes.

The Cardinals went ahead by five, but Justine Seely's three-point play cut the deficit to 34-32 with 1:15 to play before the hosts last-minute spurt.

Misericordia improves to 5-4 and will face Dennison, Sunday at 1:00 in Westerville, OH.