College of Marin Women's Basketball came ever so close a victory on Saturday at De Anza, but narrowly missed out on grabbing the win. Marin competed in the De Anza Tournament Championship and battled their hosts to the final minute. The Mariners rallied from an early double-digit deficit and nearly completed an epic comeback in a 58-54 loss. Victoria Bing and Kaleah Williams led the Mariners with 18 points as each recorded a double double.
Marin endured a slow start, as the De Anza Dons jumped out to a 14-0 lead less than seven minutes into the game. Williams scored from the left block to remove the goose egg from the scoreboard, but the Mariners trailed 18-8 at the end of the first quarter. College of Marin did not give up, nor did they surrender to De Anza in the second quarter. Instead, Marin battled back and trailed just 27-21 at halftime.
The second half saw a different Mariners team as they played the role of the aggressor. Marin pulled within a point at 35-34 before a diving layup by Bing put Marin in the lead with 3:00 left in the quarter. They extended their advantage to 42-39 by the end of the quarter.
The Mariners managed their lead to start the fourth, and extended it to 46-41 with 7:30 left on the clock. They led 50-47 with three minutes left when De Anza made their move. A layup and a quick three pointer put De Anza on top 52-50 before Williams buried a pair of free throws to tie the game up at 52-52. De Anza earned a pair of trips to the line resulting in two points with under thirty seconds remaining. Marin had possession, but a turnover forced them to foul again, ultimately salting the game away in De Anza's favor.
The Mariners scored 54 points on 36.2% shooting. They lived at the line with 24 attempts but could convert just 10 of them. Bing had 18 points and 15 rebounds to go with a pair of steals while Williams had 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists on the evening.
The loss dropped the Mariners' record to 3-6 on the year with a home date versus Feather River on deck. The Mariners host the Golden Eagles on Tuesday, December 10th at 4pm.