Lee leads Gettysburg rally past Western New England

Trailing 50-42 after Western New England hit back-to-back three-pointers with 5:00 to play, the Bullets’ Shinya Lee sparked a thrilling comeback with eight points, four blocked shots, and four rebounds as the senior forward seemingly willed her team to a 55-52 come-from-behind win in the second round of the 2025 NCAA Division III Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament.

Playing before a home crowd at Bream Gymnasium, Lee finished the night with 14 points, 11 rebounds, seven blocked shots, and two steals to lead the Bullets. AB Holsinger added 11 points and four assists.

Shinya Lee fueled a fourth-quarter surge for Gettysburg on Saturday.

Lilly Hedge led Western New England with 17 points and a game-high 17 rebounds.

With the victory, Gettysburg advances to the third round of tournament play —and second weekend—for the first time since 2018. The 27th win of the season established a new program record for wins in a season.

Kimberly Hopkins, a late addition to the Bullet starting lineup, opened the game with a driving layup to stake Gettysburg to a 3-0 lead. The Bullets went up 4-1 before four straight points from Lilly Hedge gave Western New England a 5-4 edge. The quarter featured five ties and five lead changes en route to a 20-15 Golden Bears lead after one period. The second-quarter advantage remained between three and six points until a pair of Holsinger drives to the hoop in the final 90 seconds cut the deficit to 28-26 at the break.

Western New England opened the third period with six straight points, canning a triple and converting a traditional three-point play to put Gettysburg in front 32-28 two minutes into the stanza. Hedge broke the Western New England drought with 5:21 showing, but Lee had the answer at the other end. An Emma Kahn 3-pointer sparked an 11-0 Golden Bear run that opened up a 41-34 lead in the final minute, but Ava O’Neil hit a bucket on the break at the end of the period to close the margin to 43-38 entering the final 10 minutes.

Two free throws each from Skylar Reale and Reagan Chrencik closed the deficit to 43-42 with 8:11 to play. Western New England responded with seven straight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers from Sophie Hedge, to take the eight-point lead to the final media timeout. From the stoppage, Lee hit a turnaround from in close, then blocked a pair of shots on the other end. After drawing a foul at 3:46, she hit both free throws to make it a 50-46 game. She then converted two more from the charity stripe a minute later to cut the margin to two. Just 42 seconds later, Lee returned to the line and sank both to tie the game with a pair of blocked shots between free-throw attempts. Lily Hedge momentarily stemmed the tide and put the Golden Bears back in front with 1:31 to play. Emily Violante hit the first of two free throws to make it a one-point game. Holsinger then drove the lane in the final minute and kicked out to O’Neil in the right corner, where the freshman buried the shot with 41 ticks remaining. Hopkins came up with a steal on the other end and made one free throw to make it a three-point game, and the Bullets withstood a pair of Sophie Hedge game-tying 3-point attempts in the waning seconds.

The Bullets will now face Randolph-Macon in the opening game of the sectional on Friday. The site of the sectional and game times will be announced on Sunday.

Wesleyan bumps Bullet men from tournament

Wesleyan, ranked third in the latest d3hoops.com poll, used a 14-0 run late in the second to break open an eight-point lead and ultimately defeat Gettysburg 82-60 in the NCAA Div. III men’s basketball second round.

Jordan Stafford led the Bullets with 14 points, five rebounds and three assists. Nicky Johnson led the Cardinals with 20 points and eight rebounds.

Behind four points from Nicky Johnson, Wesleyan jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the game’s first 2:04. Trailing 11-6, Stafford connected on a driving layup to start a 6-0 burst that put Gettysburg in front by one with 12:37 to play. The teams traded points until the Cardinals were able to edge the lead out to 25-18 nearly four minutes later. The Bullets clawed back within three on a Nate Williams second-chance bucket, but Wesleyan scored the next seven to open up a 10-point lead for the first time with 4:43 showing. The advantage remained between seven and 10 the rest of the half, with the hosts taking a 41-32 lead into the break.

Baskets from Stafford and Aidan Mess closed the margin to four in the first 64 seconds of the second half, but a Fritz Hauser 3-pointer and Shane Regan fast-break layup extended the back to double digits. The lead remained between eight and 12 points until a Johnson layup ignited the game-clinching 14-0 run with 6:36 to play.