WHAT A FINISH! CHABOT WOMEN WIN AT THE BUZZER

The Chabot women's basketball team nearly brought the house down Friday night with a scintillating 56-54 win over visiting College of San Mateo on a 40-foot buzzer-beater by Emilia Dougherty, a sophomore transfer from Skyline.

Tightly guarded, Dougherty took an inbounds pass from Leilani Gonzales and somehow managed to bank in a running three-pointer, touching off a wild celebration as the Gladiators' men's team soaked in the excitement while preparing for its game against CSM.

The inspired Chabot men followed with a defensive-minded, 57-50 win over the Bulldogs for their fifth consecutive triumph in the Coast-North Conference. Overall, it was a great night to be a Gladiator.

Dede Franklin paced the Chabot women (8-14, 3-1) with 17 points in their third straight victory. Kelly Tumlin and Arielle Hines both had 13 points. The gritty Gladiators trailed the whole game before Dougherty delivered a stroke of magic in the clutch.

But the Chabot women have to hold their focus with two huge games this week against fellow Coast-North contenders: at home against both Skyline (12-10, 3-1) on Wednesday and CCSF (17-4, 5-0) on Friday. The matchup with Skyline will pit teams tied for second place, and Chabot will undoubtedly have revenge in mind against CCSF, which handled the Gladiators 78-45 on Jan. 6 in San Francisco.