Syracuse, N.Y. – Senior guard Alex Marple (Covington, Pa./Wellsboro) knocked down a baseline jumper with 2.9 seconds left to give the Le Moyne College women's basketball team a 70-69 victory over Saint Michael's College on Saturday afternoon in Northeat-10 Conference action at Ted Grant Court.

Marple finished the contest with 13 points, including seven in the second half, while grabbing two offensive rebounds and dishing out a pair of assists. Senior forward Tessa Pucello (Syracuse, N.Y./Solvay) nailed five three-pointers in the first half en route to scoring 18 points in 24 minutes off the bench. Junior guard Vandell Andrade (Cranston, R.I./St. Mary's-Bay View/Rhode Island College) flirted with a triple-double by scoring 14 points, grabbing a team-best seven rebounds and dishing out a season-high seven assists, while also recording three steals. Senior forward Bath-Sheba McMahon (Queens, N.Y./Grambling Laboratory (La.)/Weatherford College) was the fourth Dolphin in double figures with 12 points, 10 of which she scored in the first half.

Maggie Sabine and Makenzie Burud each tallied 19 points in the setback for the Purple Knights. Sabine, who added a game-high eight rebounds and four assists, recorded 11 of her points in the first half, while Burud posted 17 points after halftime.

After the Purple Knights came all the way back from a 17-point deficit with 13:32 left in the game to take a one-point lead with 1:22 remaining, the Dolphins called timeout with 1:01 to go. Following a pair of missed shots by Marple and a miss by Andrade, the Dolphins got the ball on the baseline with 13 seconds left. After taking a pass in the left corner, Marple dribbled along the baseline before pulling up to knock down the game-winning basket with 2.9 seconds to play.

Out of a timeout, Saint Michael's got the ball to Burud at the top of the three-point line, but she was unable to get the attempt off before time expired.

After the teams traded 4-0 runs to open the game, the Purple Knights tallied 10 of the next 12 points, including seven in a row on the back end of the spurt, to take their largest lead of the game. Inside of three-pointers by Megan Gaudreau and Indira Evora, Morgan Jenkins and Sabine each made shots in the paint.

The Dolphins answered back with a 14-2 run over 2:43 to take a 20-16 lead with 10:57 remaining in the first half. Pucello buried a pair of three-pointers, Marple scored four points and Andrade and junior forward Maggie Brown (Cortland, N.Y./Cortland) each made shots in the paint.

Kelly Frappier got the Purple Knights within 22-20 with a pair of lay-ups in a span of 43 seconds, but the Dolphins scored seven of the next nine points to push their lead to seven with 7:50 left.

Sabine made a jumper and a three-pointer before Burud made a lay-up to knot the game at 29 with 5:30 left.

Le Moyne responded with a 17-3 run over the last 5:18 to take a 14-point lead into the intermission. Pucello started the run with a three-pointer, McMahon made a pair of lay-ups around an Andrade lay-up and then Pucello drilled a three-pointer and free throw on separate possessions for a 42-30 advantage with 1:54 left. Jenkins snapped Le Moyne's 10-0 run with a lay-up, but McMahon and Marple hit jumpers in the final 35 seconds to give the Dolphins a 46-32 lead.

The Dolphins tallied eight of the first 13 points of the second half to extend their lead to 17 with 14:27 left in the game. Andrade hit consecutive jumpers, senior forward Emily Greer (Corry, Pa./Corry) converted a lay-up and then Marple knocked down a jump shot.

After Andrade hit a jumper in the paint with 13:32 left to give the Dolphins a 56-39 lead, the Purple Knights started their comeback. Gaudreau started a 12-0 run with a three-pointer and a jumper around two Frappier free throws, Burud then had a conventional three-pointer play and Tomi Akinpetide capped the streak with a lay-up to bring the Purple Knights within 56-51 with 7:49 left.

The Dolphins somewhat regained control of the game with an 8-4 spurt, but the Purple Knights kept pushing with 12 of the next 14 points, culminating in a one-point lead on a Sabine lay-up with 2:27 left. In Le Moyne's spurt, Greer and Marple nailed three-pointers around a Greer lay-up. In the 12-2 jaunt by the Purple Knights, Burud made a pair of lay-ups around a Sabine jumper to make it 64-61 with 4:38 to go. After McMahon made a lay-up for the Dolphins, Burud canned a fast-break jumper, Evora converted a fast-break lay-up and then Sabine hit her go-ahead jumper.

Pucello regained the lead for the Dolphins, but then Burud converted a lay-up to give the Purple Knights their last lead before Marple's shot.

Le Moyne (10-5, 4-4 NE-10), which is off to its best start since the 2001-02 season, is back in action on Tuesday against Assumption College at 2:00 p.m.