WILKES-BARRE – Trailing by two points, Brianna Horton (Verona, NJ/Verona) drilled a three-pointer with nine seconds remaining to lift the Wilkes University women's basketball team to a 54-51 MAC Freedom victory Saturday afternoon at the Marts Center.
 
With the win Wilkes improved to 5-10 overall and 3-5 in MAC Freedom games. FDU-Florham fell to 1-12 overall and 1-5 in league contests.
 
FDU-Florham raced out to an early lead in the game and continued to find open shooters on the perimeter building its advantage to as many as 19 points late in the first half.
 
Wilkes picked up the defensive pressure to start the second half and slowly chipped away at the Devils lead cutting the advantage to seven at 33-26 following a Kendra Smith (Hughesville, PA/Hughesville) layup in the paint with 4:28 left in the third quarter. Horton connected on a triple to start the fourth frame and Baylee Guedes (Thompson, PA/Palmerton) followed with a layup inside to bring the Colonels to within six trailing 42-36 with 7:52 left in the game. A pair of free throws followed by another bucket inside this time Jordyn Jennings (York, PA/Northeastern) finding room in the paint to score two more moved Wilkes to within two at 42-40 with just over five minutes remaining.
 
Guedes continued to flex her muscle inside scoring back-to-back buckets to complete the comeback as Wilkes led 44-42 with under four minutes on the clock. FDU-Florham answered back with three scores to take back the lead, but a free throw from Horton and a layup by Jennings brought Wilkes back to within one to setup the final sequence of the contest.
 
Following a Devils free throw that put the visitors up two, Wilkes called a timeout to setup one final play. Horton swung around the baseline and into the right corner where Julianna Askins (Carlisle, PA/Carlisle) found her for the game-deciding three-pointer with nine seconds remaining. FDU-Florham threw the ball away on the ensuing inbounds and Jennings grabbed the steal and subsequent free throws following a foul to seal the victory for Wilkes.
 
Horton topped all Colonel scorers with 14 points including three field goals from behind the arc. She also added six rebounds. Jennings was solid all game finishing with 12 points and nine boards. Smith added nine points, four rebounds and two steals.
 
Angela Downey led all Devils players with a game-high 18 points including five triples.
 
Wilkes is back in MAC Freedom action Wednesday with a road matchup at DeSales University starting at 6:00 p.m. in Center Valley, Pa. DeSales posted a 90-42 victory over the Colonels in their first meeting on December 1.