COVINGTON – Things didn’t go well throughout much of the game, but the Covington Lady Buccs were able to grind out a 45-43 win over Milton-Union on Thursday to improve to 15-4 overall and 10-1 in the TRC.

Milton-Union falls to 15-4 overall and 7-4 in the TRC.

The game was tied at 43-43 with 14 seconds left as both teams went back onto the floor after a Covington timeout. When the Lady Buccs inbounded the basketball it was obvious that the Milton-Union defense was focused on shutting down Maggie Anderson – Covington’s leading scorer.

The ball ended up in the hands of sophomore Delaney Murphy and as she reached the top of the key Delaney moved to her left looking for an open teammate. As each Lady Bucc without the ball moved around in an attempt to get away from the Milton defenders, a clear path to the basket opened up for Murphy and she drove in the lane with five seconds left to score on a left-handed layup for the game-winner.

The path to give themselves a chance to win was difficult for the Lady Buccs due to the defensive pressure applied by Milton and the offensive juggernaut of the trio of Jenna Brumbaugh, Shannon Brumbaugh and Ava Berberich. They combined to score 41 of the 43 points put up by the Lady Bulldogs.

The Lady Buccs trailed 10-7 after one, 21-18 at the break and then 34-29 after three quarters of play.

Covington trailed 36-30 with just over four-minutes left in the game and then closed the gap to 37-33 with 2:53 left after a huge trey by Gracie Anderson.

Covington eventually tied the score at 40-40 with one-minute left on a three-point play by Maggie Anderson, but Milton reclaimed the lead with 32 seconds left.

Another bucket by Maggie Anderson tied the score at 43-43 with 21 seconds left to set up the thrilling finish where Delaney Murphy hit the game-winner.

Maggie Anderson led the Lady Buccs with 15 points and Carlie Besecker had 11 points.

The Lady Buccs have a week to prepare for another league contest at Lehman next Thursday.