Deion Sanders’ nickname is Prime Time. The Los Angeles Lakers of the 80s were known as Show Time. Indya Mitchell’s new name should be Crunch Time.

Mitchell converted a lay-up with 4.1 seconds left to give the UMass Boston woment’s basketball team a 54-53 victory against Plymouth State. The win was the Beacons’ seventh of the year, and the third in Little East Conference play.

It was Mitchell who provided the heroics in the last Beacons’ win. The senior guard hit a three pointer as time expired in a 60-57 victory over UMass Dartmouth on January 27. UMB coach Shawn Renee Polk could only smile about her senior guard’s flair for the dramatic.

“She is a senior, and she is going out in style.”

Mitchell led all UMB scorers in the game with 11 points. Teammate Danielle Jones had a solid game with 10 points and 8 rebounds.

UMB came into the game with a five-game losing streak and was in last place in the conference. The team had not been playing its best ball, but Polk felt that this effort was much different

“I think that they came together, versus the past few games where we were struggling. They played very well, which is why we came out on top. They made some adjustments and capitalized on some turnovers.”

Plymouth State had a chance to win the game after Mitchell’s basket. After a timeout, Betsy Oswalt received the inbounds pass, ran the length of the floor, and drove to the basket. She was fouled on the play by Mitchell with 0.3 seconds remaining, sending her to the free-throw line for two shots. She proceeded to miss both. Aga Matel of the Beacons grabbed the rebound after the second miss to secure the win.

The game was tied at 27 apiece at halftime after the Beacons led for most of the first half. The teams exchanged leads only once in the first 20 minutes, but the second half was a different story. The game was tied four times, and the lead changed hands a total of 11 times.

Mitchell made a huge heads-up play right before her game-winning basket. With Plymouth State up 53-52 and less than 25 seconds left in regulation, sophomore guard Elmina Darville launched a three pointer that missed. Mitchell grabbed the ball as it was going out of bounds and quickly called a timeout.

As for the last offensive possession for the Beacons, Polk admitted that the offensive set was not what she drew up during the timeout.

“[The last play] was similar to what we drew up for [UMass] Dartmouth, but with a little tweak to it. [Mitchell] wasn’t actually supposed to drive to the basket. We were definitely going for the three [pointer], but it didn’t work out that way. She went to her left, and she finished it in great fashion. That is what I expect of her.”

Polk was not happy at the end-of-the-game foul called on her team, but by no means did she think it was the wrong call.

“I couldn’t actually tell; I couldn’t see it. There were so many people around the ball. But I figured that since they didn’t call [a foul on Mitchell’s drive to the basket], then they wouldn’t call that last strip, and [the referees] would let it go.

“But thankfully,” she chuckled, “the free throws didn’t go in.”