MOBILE, Ala. – The Spring Hill College (SHC) women's basketball team took an 81-78 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) home victory away from the Paine College Lions in overtime on Saturday afternoon at the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.
The Lions (4-9, 3-3 SIAC East) fought back from a 15-point deficit early in the 4
th quarter to take a 70-68 lead with less than 20 seconds remaining, but two successful free throws by senior forward
Tiffany Valentine knotted the game at 70-70 with 13 seconds remaining.
Paine's Camille Cunningham tried to end the game by driving the center of the lane with 6 seconds left only to run into a firmly planted Valentine who drew the offensive charging call to send the game into overtime.
Halfway into the extra stanza, the Badgers had built a 78-71 advantage, but once again, Paine found a way to answer back and cut the gap to 78-76 with 2 minutes remaining. Senior SHC guard
Elise Reilly of Covington, La. put a dagger into the Lions with a 3-pointer at 1:40, but Paine found an inside layup 30 seconds later. The teams would trade missed jumpers on opposite ends of the court over the minute, but a final 3-pointer by the Lions off a steal at the buzzer fell short.
Valentine finished the night with 30 points in a 7-of-14 performance and 12 rebounds while junior forward
Katie Krout from Tuscaloosa poured in 23 points with 10 rebounds. Reilly added 12 points off four 3-pointers and collected 10 rebounds.
As a team, the Badgers shot 39.7% (27-68) in the game, including 26.7% (4-15) from beyond the 3-point line. SHC turned the ball over 23 times versus 16 steals by the Lions that resulted in 20 points for the visitors from Augusta, Ga. Spring Hill sealed the game with an 88.5% (23-26) night in free throws while dominating the boards by a 51-40 margin.
Keondra Archie had 23 points to lead Paine as the Lions shot 41% (32-78) from the field, but just 11.1% (2-18) from 3-point range. Paine scored on 70.6% (12-17) of their free throws and lost 15 turnovers to eight steals by Spring Hill that the Badgers cashed in for eight points.
The Badgers (4-8, 3-1 SIAC West) will have their work cut out them on Monday evening when they host the SIAC East Division-leading Benedict College (BC) Tigers (11-2, 5-1 SIAC East) at 5:30 p.m. in the Arthur R. Outlaw Recreation Center.
