Last-gasp Johnson wins it for Loyola

Alyssa Ashley Loyola 48
Luxol 46
(8-11, 16-9, 13-13, 11-13)

Loyola bounced back to level the series at one-all against Luxol in the women’s league final. The third game in the best-of-five contest will be played this afternoon.

Sunday’s game seemed destined for extra-time after Robin Murphy had potted two free-throws with eight seconds left. However, Daserie Johnson had other ideas and with a second left on the clock the Loyola forward potted the winning basket to the dismay of Luxol.

Luxol held a slight edge in the initial stages but Loyola showed more commitment as the second quarter got underway to take a 20-14 lead. Luxol upped their game but could not prevent Loyola from changing ends 24-20 ahead.

Luxol continued to show the better ideas but when only a point behind, 28-27, Loyola potted six consecutive points and started the last ten minutes 37-33 in front.

Luxol levelled matters at 37-all but Loyola regained the lead (43-39) with five minutes left.

Luxol never gave up hope though and with less than a minute to go they were still in contention (46-44).

Luxol recovered possession and Murphy drew the teams level from the free-throw line but that was not the end of the story as Johnson, despite being tightly marked, did well to break free and hit the match-winning basket.

Loyola: E. Moore 4, C. Grima 13, J. Doughty, D. Hollier 5, K. Tonna, A. Bonanno, A. Sciberras 4, F. Camilleri, S.J. Barbara 4, D. Johnson 18.

Luxol: S. Pace 3, M. Sciortino 6, C. Medina, B. Naudi 2, J. Busuttil Gaerty, G. Zarb 3, P. Ellul, R. Murphy 21, D. Muscat 2, A. Paul, B. Zammit 9.

Referees: E. Mangani, A. Carbonaro, C. Terribile.