ST. LEO, Fla. – The No. 4 Nova Southeastern University women's basketball team survived 50 minutes of road conference action on Saturday afternoon, edging out Saint Leo in double overtime, 85-82.
The Sharks (4-0, 2-0 SSC) and Lions (1-3, 0-2 SSC) battled back-and-forth throughout all of regulation. At the half, Saint Leo led by four, but NSU scored the first 10 out of the break to go up 38-32. However, the home team fought back with 13 of the next 15, and outscored NSU 16-5 to finish the third period for a bigger lead than they had at intermission, 48-43.
In the fourth, the Sharks again would put together a scoreless stretch, this one immediately following their largest deficit as they trailed 55-47 with 6:51 left. It would end up being a 13-0 Shark run, and a five-point lead for the visitors with just 2:06 to go, 60-55. They were still ahead by four with 1:38 left, but Saint Leo hit a layup, forced a turnover, and eventually a driving layup by Chelsy Springs with under 10 seconds left would force overtime.
The Sharks looked to end things in the first extra frame, holding two separate four-point leads, each coming with less than a minute remaining.
Taylor Buie (R-Jr., Puyallup, Wash.) hit a 3-pointer, a driving layup and then had a pretty assist on a
Sarah Kelly (Fr., Huntington, W. Va.) runner, making it 73-69 at about the 40-second mark; and with just 14.7 seconds left,
Molly Blomer (Sr., West Chester, Ohio) came through with two clutch free throws for a 75-71 advantage.
But Saint Leo again wouldn't go away, scoring four points to tie, all coming from Chachi Guzman (on a 3-pointer and 1-of-2 free throws). The Sharks had an off-balance look at the horn that didn't fall, meaning yet another overtime.
In the second OT, the Sharks scored the first five, and this time would not relinquish the lead. Again, it was Buie to start, with a layup and a 3-pointer, for an 80-75 lead at 3:06. Though the Lions scored seven of the next 11 points to cut it to two, 84-82 with 1:04 left, they missed two free throws that would've tied it, and Buie's 1-of-2 trip to the line with just 26 seconds left extended the margin to three.
A Saint Leo 3-point attempt late was short, and Blomer came up with an offensive rebound off a missed free throw with under five seconds remaining, avoiding all of the Lions attempting to foul and dribbling out the clock for the victory.
"We pulled out a great road win today," said head coach
LeAnn Freeland, whose Sharks gave her her 100th victory at the school on Saturday. "Saint Leo came into the game very inspired and played well, especially their key players. Moving forward, we need to start games more aggressive on both ends of the floor from the tip."
Buie hit five 3-pointers among her NSU-high 26 points, along with five assists against no turnovers in 41 minutes of action.
Kayla Wright (Jr., Lauderhill, Fla.) scored 18, making 4-of-5 free throws and pulling down six rebounds; while
Monaye Merritt (R-Sr., Philadelphia) had her first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, while tying Buie for the team's best with five assists.
Saint Leo had three of their players combine for all but seven of their 82 points: Springs, with 27 along with nine rebounds; Guzman with 26, eight rebounds and 10 assists; and Izabell Skoogh, making six 3-pointers among her 22 points. All three played 45 minutes or more, with Guzman playing all but one minute in the game.
The double-overtime affair was only the second in women's history, with the other also ironically coming on the road at St. Leo (with the Lions winning 81-69 on Jan. 30, 2010). NSU is on the road again next, also in-conference on Tuesday, traveling to Melbourne to play Florida Tech at 5:30 p.m.
