Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Outlasts Buffalo In Overtime, 62-59
1/8/2003 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
Marshall Outlasts Buffalo In Overtime, 62-59
1/8/2003
Huntington, W.Va.--The third overtime game of the season was a charm for the Marshall women?s basketball team (5-6, 1-0 MAC) as they beat the Buffalo Bulls (7-4, 0-1 MAC), 62-59, Wednesday night in the Henderson Center. Sikeetha Shepard-Hall led all Herd scorers with 14 points.
The Thundering Herd trailed only once after the 9:17 mark in the first half, but could not keep the Bulls from sending the game into overtime. Marshall shot only 28.4% from the floor for the game, while Buffalo finished the game at a 42.9% clip. However, the Bulls were burned by turnovers; MU?s defense forced 23 turnovers, while the Herd?s offense turned the ball over only 12 times, their best effort of the season. Clutch free throw shooting in overtime propelled the homestanding Herd to their first Mid-American Conference win of the season.
?If you?re sitting at home tonight, you missed a great ballgame,? said Marshall head coach Royce Chadwick. ?We had great team intensity and enthusiasm for 45 minutes, and that made all the difference.?
Marshall held a ten-point lead at 32-22 with 16:11 to play in regulation, only to see it snuffed out by a Buffalo 14-1 run in the next seven minutes. The Bulls took their last lead of the game then at 36-35. Both teams traded baskets the rest of the way, although the Herd led by four, 51-47, with 3:49 to play in the second half. Buffalo?s Kate McMeeken-Ruscoe hit a free-throw, and then Erin Lawrenson cooly knocked down a three-pointer with 31 seconds to go to tie the score at 51. Neither team could get a shot off in the final 31 seconds; Marshall turned the ball over with eight seconds remaining, and the Bulls could not get a shot off as time expired.
In the overtime period, two quick layups by Ida Dotson and Amy Smith put the Herd up four with 4:14 to go. Buffalo quickly responded with a four-point run of their own, capped off by a jumper in the paint by Kim Kilpela. Marshall?s great defense and excellent free-throw shooting took over from there, as the Herd got stops on three straight Bull possesions and converted on just enough free throws to keep the visiting Bulls at bay.
?Our games earlier this season got us through tonight,? said Chadwick. ?When they made some big shots down the stretch, we didn?t panic.?
Dotson was the only other Herd player to score in double figures with ten. Catie Knable added nine points and nine rebounds, while Cassie Hackworth came up big from three-point land, tallying nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc.
Lawrenson led all scorers with 20 points, while McMeeken-Ruscoe added 16.
The Herd travel to Kent State for a Monday night tussle with the Golden Flashes. The game begins at 7 p.m., and can be seen live on Fox Sports Ohio
