MWBA - Maritime Womens Basketball Association

Moncton Survives Heart-Stopper

A rollercoaster of emotions.

Certainly a rollercoaster of lead changes.

In the end, when it mattered the most, visiting Moncton Mystics won a heart-stopping 82-80 overtime Maritime Women’s Basketball Association outing over Lake City 56ers in Dartmouth on Saturday afternoon.

Moncton forced overtime with eight seconds left when Lindsay Black scored on a layup following a pair of Lake City missed free throws to cap 40 minutes of play, tied 72-72.

The back-and-forth overtime saw Courtney Donaldson give the 56ers a 79-78 lead in the extra session with 1:48 to play before Leo Elbert pushed Moncton into an 80-79 lead with 1:39 left. Black, who finished with 14 points, then scored with 74 seconds to play and Lake City could not get the equalizer.

A long three-point attempt by Elizabeth Iseyemi missed and the 56ers missed a potential putback to tie the game.

Tremendous excitement and yet another MWBA game won this season by the slimmest of margins.

Black and Elbert both had 14 for Moncton.Ali Berry sunk 10, Celine Sterkel, Jenna Jones and Kelsey McLaughlin all had 10 and Kelly Vass added nine.

Donaldson pumped 24 for Lake City. Iseyemi scored 19 and Lauren Armstrong 12.

It was the league’s second overtime game in 2024.

Moncton has now won two straight and moved its record to 3-5. Lake City has lost two in a row and is 6-3.

– Rookie Celine Sterckel and Moncton win a big game on the road. (Tanya Everett Photo)