Mount Hebron's suffocating defense blanked visiting Seton Keough in the first quarter and held the Gators to one first-half basket and seven points overall.
But No. 10 Seton Keough kept the game close with its own tough defense, and No. 6 Mount Hebron needed key baskets in the final minute from Kristen Waagbo and Sarah Marin to pull out a 36-32 victory last night.
Waagbo overcame second-half foul trouble to score a game-high 17 points. She picked up her fourth foul late in the third quarter, but coach Scott Robinson gambled and sent her back into the game with 6:31 left. Seton Keough (1-2) had slowly crept back from an 11-point, third-quarter deficit, and Waagbo was the team's best offensive weapon.
Andrea Bustamante completed the comeback and tied the game at 32 on a three-point shot with 1:03 left. But Waagbo stepped up and hit a turnaround jumper with 33 seconds remaining to give the Vikings the lead for good.
"I was looking to get open, and they were sagging," Waagbo said. "So I just settled for the outside shot."
Bustamante (11 points) then missed a three-pointer. Waagbo was fouled and missed the front end of a one-and-one with 12.1 seconds left. But Marin, in her first game back after suffering a high ankle sprain, scored on a put-back with 11 seconds left.
The points weren't so easy to come by throughout the game as both teams played great defense. Mount Hebron (4-0), which still hasn't given up 35 points in a game this season, shut down the Gators' offense in the first quarter and first half and gave up 10 baskets overall.
The Vikings were in the face of whichever Seton Keough player had the ball, and the Gators rarely could pass or shoot. They had eight turnovers in the first quarter alone - while putting up and missing four shots.
"That's been what's won our first four games," Robinson said. "We just played great defense."
Seton Keough didn't score a basket until Bustamante made a three-pointer with 1:01 left in the second quarter. The Gators missed 12 of 13 in the first half, but the Vikings couldn't do much offensively because of Seton Keough's tough defense.
The Gators were just as stingy, and Mount Hebron took only a 4-0 lead after the first quarter. The Vikings had a 16-7 halftime lead, but Seton Keough still was in the ballgame.
"[Defense] is what we pride ourselves on," Seton Keough coach Jackie Boswell said. "We felt pretty confident that our shots were going to fall."