MEADVILLE, Pa. – Apparently, the Allegheny College and Waynesburg University women's basketball teams didn't think that four quarters of basketball was filling enough for a Thanksgiving weekend feast.
An extra frame was needed after a back-and-forth second half, and it was the Gators who would come out on top after the added five minute period as they earned an 85-82 overtime victory over the Yellow Jackets this afternoon from the David V. Wise Center.
Allegheny (3-3, 0-0 NCAC) fell behind by 10 points late in the third quarter after possessing a nine-point halftime advantage, but responded with 23-13 fourth quarter to force overtime.
The Gator frontcourt was dominant as it registered a pair of double-doubles and the team's leading scorer.
Ifeyinwa Uwazie brought down 15 rebounds – shattering her career-high – and added 11 points for the first double-double of her career. Joining her in the club was
Kaitlyn Fromknecht, who filled the stat sheet with 12 points, 12 rebounds, four assists, four blocks, and a steal.
Emma Pellicano claimed scoring honors for Allegheny with 14 points, while adding eight rebounds, three assists, two steals, and a block.
The hosts got off to a slow start as Waynesburg (1-4, 0-0 PAC) owned a 10-2 lead just 2:30 into the game. That advantage would disappear with an 11-3 run for the Gators, thanks to a pair of Fromknecht layups, a trifecta from freshman guard
Delaney Arbore, and a shot in the paint by junior forward
Morgan Dillon.
After the Yellow Jackets split a pair from the charity stripe to regain a 14-13 advantage, Pellicano buried a three-pointer off a feed from Fromknecht to give Allegheny the lead. However, Waynesburg closed with a 6-1 stretch to carry a 20-17 advantage into the second quarter.
The visitors led 29-25 four minutes into the second frame, but could only manage a single three-pointer over the rest of the stanza. Pellicano hit a trifecta on the fastbreak to cut the Yellow Jacket advantage to one, then buried a layup with contact to give the Gators the lead. Waynesburg tallied that aforementioned three-pointer right after, but a jumper by Uwazie quickly knotted it up again.
Sophomore guard
Amanda Beebe continued the Allegheny run with her first three-pointer of the season, and Dillon followed up a miss by senior guard
Jessica Mrdjenovich with a jumper to push the Gator lead to five. Fromknecht then sank a pair of free-throws and made a layup on the next two possessions to set the halftime score at 41-32.
Allegheny would claim its largest lead of the contest just 37 seconds into the second half with a Mrdjenovich trifecta, but the Yellow Jackets answered with a 13-1 run to tie the game at 47. After Uwazie stopped the bleeding with a jumper in the paint, Waynesburg scored 11 consecutive points to own a 58-49 lead.
Arbore drilled a trifecta from the top of the key to slow down the visitors, but they stormed back with five of the next six points to close the frame.
The Yellow Jackets pushed their lead to 12 with 8:26 remaining in regulation, but a layup from senior guard
Rachel Vigliotti plus the foul cut it to single-digits. Freshman forward
Kay Pinkney's bucket in the paint trimmed the advantage to seven, but a three-pointer and free-throw on the other end made it 71-60 Waynesburg with 6:31 left in the fourth quarter.
Mrdjenovich buried a three on the right wing just seven seconds after to again cut the lead to eight, but both offenses would go cold for the next 3:27, with a Pellicano layup being the only points from that stretch. Dillon sank a jumper to make it 71-67, then freshman guard
Candaisy Crawford made two freebies to cut it to a one-possession game with 2:32 remaining in regulation.
Uwazie tied the contest with a layup, but a three-pointer on the other end swung the momentum in favor of the Yellow Jackets with 1:32 left in the frame. However, Vigliotti – who entered the quarter without a point – responded with a trifecta of her own on the next possession to make it 74-74.
A push-off on the ensuing throw-in gave the ball back to the Gators with 59 seconds remaining on the clock. Pellicano needed just eight ticks to give the hosts a 76-74 lead, but a jumper by Addy Knetzer from just inside the charity stripe tied it once more. The senior forward from the Steel City gave it another go in hopes of winning the game, but her layup attempt was off just before the buzzer.
Fromknecht began the extra fame with a pair of free-throws to give Allegheny a 78-76 lead. Waynesburg could only get one of its two freebies to go on the other end, and the Gators stretched their lead to three with a Pellicano layup off a feed from Mrdjenovich.
Vigliotti made it a two-possession game after sinking two from the chalk, but the Yellow Jackets answered with a layup by Maura Bobby, who led all scorers with 24 points on the afternoon. Vigliotti was sent to the line on the next trip down and made one freebie, giving Waynesburg some hope as it drilled a three-pointer with 35 seconds left.
However, Allegheny would run a clean final possession and was rewarded with a layup from Fromknecht to make it 85-82. The Yellow Jackets only had three seconds and no timeout in their hopes to force a second overtime, but a half-court prayer was off line.
The Gators enjoyed an impressive 44-14 edge in bench points and scored 21 of their 85 on second helpings. There were a total of nine lead changes in the game and nine times where the neither team had an advantage.
Allegheny continues its six-game homestand – the longest in program history – on Wednesday, Dec. 2 at 6:00 p.m. as it opens up North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) play with Hiram College.
