NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Anna Hughes (Jr./Glenview, Ill./New Trier) hit a fall-away 3-pointer with 27.6 seconds remaining to break a 56-56 tie, and Samantha Cooke (Sr./St. Louis, Mo./Incarnate Word Academy) added two insurance free throws in the closing moments as the Carleton College women's basketball team claimed a 61-58 comeback victory over visiting University of Wisconsin-River Falls.
 
"Another hard-fought battle and gritty performance," said Carleton head coach Tammy Metcalf-Filzen. "We executed better down the stretch in this game and came out with the win. Kudos to the players, as everyone stepped up when they were needed."
 
UWRF (4-5) led by as many as 14 on multiple occasions in the first half, but Carleton (4-6) used a 24-4 run spanning nearly 12 minutes of game action to get back into the game and built a 38-32 advantage midway through the third quarter.
 
Cooke finished the afternoon with a game-high 18 points, and her jumper gave the Knights a 47-43 cushion with 7:52 still to play, but the Falcons countered with an 11-2 run bookended by a pair of Sydney Hein triples. UWRF suddenly held a 59-54 lead with 5:35 remaining.
 
Asha Bozicevich (Jr./Golden Valley, Minn./Hopkins) made a 3-pointer on the next Calreton possession and then came up with a steal at the other end of the floor. That led to a pair of free throws by Cooke that tied the game up at 54-54.
 
The two teams traded baskets, setting the stage for Hughes to hit what ultimately proved to be the game winner. She came off a screen and swished her second 3-pointer of the afternoon. Brianna Koop scored a layup to pull the visitors within 59-58, but the Falcons were forced to foul. Cooke cashed in twice at the charity stripe to give Carleton the 61-58 lead, and Hein's bid for a game-tying 3-pointer misfired at the buzzer.
 
The Carleton defense limited UWRF to only four points over the final 5:30 of the contest.
 
Jill Yanai (So./Glendale, Calif./Glendale) chipped in 13 points for Carleton, and Hughes finished with 10 points.
 
Kooper had 16 points to pace the Falcons, with Hein hitting four 3-pointers to account for her 12 points.
 
The Knights shot 40 percent overall and 31 percent (4-of-13) from beyond the arc. UW-River Falls made 44 percent of its shots and went 9-of-28 (32 percent) from 3-point range.
 
Carleton owned a 25-8 advantage in points off turnovers and hit 11-of-12 shots at the free throw line to secure the win despite playing without the Knights' leading scorer Katie Chavez (Sr./Westminster, Colo./Holy Family), who was sidelined by injury.
 
UP NEXT FOR THE KNIGHTS: Carleton heads into the holiday break with the victory and begins the New Year with a 3 p.m. home contest against Macalester College on Jan. 4, 2020. That will be the second half of a men's-women's doubleheader.