Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Navy
Women's Basketball Outlasted by Navy; Falls 94-92 in Double Overtime
1/16/2014 12:46:00 AM | Women's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Co-captains Audrey Dotson and Shelby Romine each threw up buzzer-beating shots to keep their squad alive through two overtime periods, but the Bucknell women's basketball team couldn't outlast Navy on Wednesday night, dropping a heart-breaking 94-92 decision after 50 minutes of toe-to-toe action at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison, who played to an overtime win at Holy Cross on Saturday, fall to 8-7 overall and 3-2 in Patriot League action with the loss. The Midshipmen, who maintain sole possession of first place in the conference standings with the victory, improve to 13-3 overall and 5-0 in league play.
“I'm really proud of our kids,” said head coach Aaron Roussell. “That was a tough one tonight. We did a lot of things really, really well, and I think, most importantly, we just competed and showed a lot of resiliency. Everything they have showed here in the past four games has been very impressive, but unfortunately we just didn't have enough there in the tank at the end tonight.”
Dotson led a quartet of Bison who scored in double-figures, tallying a career-high 28 points on 12-of-23 (.522) shooting from the field and 4-of-6 (.667) from the line. The junior also grabbed seven rebounds in 47 minutes of playing time. Romine scored 17 points, 12 of which came in the two overtime periods, and dished out six assists, while freshmen Megan McGurk and Claire DeBoer each contributed 15 points. DeBoer, who shot 5-of-12 (.417) from the field and hit all five of her free throws, also collected ten rebounds for her fourth career double-double.
Alix Membreno scored an impressive 34 points to lead the Mids, who also had four players scoring in double-digits, shooting 10-of-21 (.476) from the field, 4-of-10 (.400) from long range and 10-of-19 (.526) from the line. Chloe Stapleton and M.L. Morrison finished with 16 and 15, respectively, while Jade Geif tallied 13 points and a game-high 17 rebounds, including 11 boards on the offensive glass.
The Bison knocked the Mids off their game at the start of the contest, taking control from the opening basket and maintaining it until the last seven seconds of the stanza. Bucknell out shot Navy in every way in the first 20 minutes of action, building an eight-point advantage with just over five minutes remaining, and then using a 6-0 streak at the end of the half to extend its lead to 35-26 with 2:00 on the clock. The visitors usurped control in the final minutes however, hitting three straight three-pointers, including one with seven seconds to play, to knot the score at 35-35 as the teams headed to the locker rooms.
Some of the most exciting basketball of the night occurred in the second 20 minutes of the contest, as the evenly-matched squads battled for each and every bucket, with neither team able to build more than a five-point advantage. While Navy owned the edge for the first six minutes, the remainder of the stanza told a different story, as the Bison and the Mids played to nine ties and exchanged leads on sixteen occasions during that time frame.
Bucknell found itself up 71-70 with 1:25 on the clock in regulation, as DeBoer converted a traditional three-point play to swing momentum in the home team's favor. Navy went 3-for-4 from the line over the course of the next minute however, reclaiming a two-point edge with just nine seconds to play. With the game on the line the Bison exhibited both their heart and their offensive prowess, as McGurk sent the ball down the court to Romine, who feed it to Dotson in the paint. Fighting through traffic, she spun to her left and threw up a shot, connecting on the layup to tie the score at 73-73 and send the game into overtime.
The first overtime stanza further affirmed the evenness of the match-up, with both squads taking skilled shots and putting up staunch defense as they battled neck-and-neck through five tense minutes of action. Four quick points from Dotson put Buckell up 77-75 with 3:24 on the clock, but a three-pointer from Membreno flipped the score in favor of Navy just over a minute later. The teams reached a stalwart for almost two full minutes, but the last 18 seconds of the period were flooded with action.
Membreno hit two from the line to extend the Mids' lead to three, but McGurk executed a perfect jumper to snap it back to one. Fouled again, Membreno went 1-for-1 at the line, giving Navy an 82-80 lead but putting the ball in Bucknell's possession with just eight seconds on the clock. In an eerily similar play that spoke volumes about the fortitude and heart of the young Bison squad, Romine raced up the court, drove down the lane and tossed up a layup that went in just as the buzzer sounded, putting five more minutes of overtime on the clock.
The Mids kicked off the second overtime stanza with a 7-0 run, giving them their biggest lead of the night at 89-82, but a feisty Bison squad would not be shut down that easily, pushing its way back into the contest and halting Navy's offense for the next two and a half minutes. Romine hit two from the line with 38 seconds on the clock, narrowing Bucknell's disadvantage to five, and while the Mids had six chances at the line to put the game out of reach, they were able to convert just one of them, allowing a Romine layup to narrow the gap to two with 13 seconds to play.
Navy missed three of its next four opportunities at the line while Romine nailed both of hers, bringing Bucknell within one with five seconds remaining, but Membreno hit her last shot from the charity stripe and Romine's desperation heave was just short, giving the Mids a hard-earned 94-92 win over the Bison.
Bucknell out shot Navy in the contest, hitting 44.4 percent (32-of-72) of its shots to the visitors' 41.3 percent (31-of-75). While the Bison held a significant advantage from the line, hitting 22-of-27 (.815) in comparison to the Mids' 23-of-45 (.511), Navy owned the boards, holding a 55-37 advantage, including a 20-7 edge in offensive rebounds.
The Bison will play one more contest at Sojka Pavilion this week before hitting the road again, welcoming Army to Lewisburg on Saturday, Jan. 18 for a 7 p.m. contest. The Black Knights, who dropped a 74-64 decision to Navy last Saturday, earned a 70-57 win over Holy Cross on Wednesday evening, improving to 4-1 in the Patriot League. The game, and all of this season's conference match-ups, will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.
