TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - On Saturday, December 9th your Mount St. Joseph Women's Basketball team traveled to Rose-Hulman to take on the Fightin' Engineers in a Heatland Colliegaite Athletic Conference matchup. The Lions jumped ahead early holding a 1 point lead heading into halftime. In the 2nd half each team went back and forth with the Lions taking a lead with just 1.9 second remaining in the game. But, a last second free throw tied the game at 54 sending us to overtime. In overtime, the Lions initially trailed but crawled their way back winning their 8th straight game 66-62 This 8-0 start for the Lions is their best start since the 1995-96 season.
To begin the 1st quarter the Lions built up an early lead. A layup from
Karlee Mills and a pair of free throws from
Madison Drummonds got the scoring started for the Lions. Rose would quickly equalize but 4 points from
Anyiah Murphy would give the lead back to the Lions. Rose would draw within 2 but a 3-pointer from Mills followed by a pair of free throws from
Morgan Jenkins gave the Lions a 6 point lead with 1:22 left in the quarter. Rose would respond but a layup from
Hailey Guingrich maintained the Lions advantage. But, a late jumper from Rose trimmed the Lions lead to 17-13 heading into the 2nd quarter.
In the 2nd, the Mount struggled to start. Rose didn't particularly take advantage however tying the game at 17 with 5:12 left in the half. Following the scoring drought the Lions would explode on a 10-0 including a pair of buckets from both
Anyiah Murphy and
Whitney Warfel. The Lions would now hold a 27-17 advantage with 3:17 left. But, Rose would respond shutting out the Lions for the half and drawing within 1. With 20 minutes left to play the Lions held a 27-26 lead.
To begin the 3rd each team would trade buckets until
Chloe Jansen would knock down a layup to give the Lions a 36-30 lead with 7:14 remaining in the quarter. But, after the Lions extended their lead the Fightin' Engineers came storming back. Rose would go on a 6-0 run to tie the game with 3:56 left in the quarter. Stopping the run was
Karlee Mills who knocked down a jumper to regain the 38-36 lead. Rose would respond with 4 free throws to take the lead but a layup with just 3 seconds remaining from
Anyiah Murphy tied the game at 40 before heading to the 4th quarter.
To start the 4th, each team traded buckets until the Lions would go on a 7-0 run. The run started with a free throw from Drummonds followed by an and-one play from
Ellie Oldendick. Following the and-one Drummonds would knock down a layup followed by another free throw from Oldendick to give the Lions a 49-45 lead. But, Rose would answer immediately, tying the game after a pair of 3-pointers with 4:21 left to play. With 3:32 left,
Karlee Mills would knock down 2 free throws giving the Lions a 53-51 advantage. Following the free throws, neither team would score until Rose would knock down a jumper to tie the game with 28 seconds left.
Following the bucket, the Lions took the ball up the court with the intention to run the clock out and get a quick basket. The Lions would almost execute but
Karlee Mills got fouled in the paint. Mills then headed to the line with 2 shots and a tie game with just 1.9 seconds on the clock. Mills would knock down the 1st shot but the second would bounce off the back of the rim and head straight to Rose. Rose quickly called a timeout moving the ball up to half court with 1.6 seconds on the clock. The Fightin' Engineers would draw up a play getting the ball to the block and with 0.3 seconds on the clock, the Lions got called for a shooting foul, sending Rose to the line trailing by 1 with 0.3 seconds left. Rose would miss the 1st but make the 2nd tying the game at 54 and taking us to overtime.
In overtime, the Lions and Fightin' Engineers had 5 minutes to face off with the Lions unblemished record on the line. Each team traded buckets and with 1:49 left to play a jumper from Jenkins tied the score at 60. The Lions would finally move ahead on a free throw from
Karlee Mills but Rose would knock down a pair themselves to take a 62-61 lead with 1:26 left. But, Mills would redeem herself after the missed free throw with a huge 3-point bucket to give the Lions a 64-62 lead with 1:10 left. The Lions defense would step up following the momentum shift stopping Rose before Jenkins could extend the Lions lead with a layup. The Lions didn't allow another point, extending their win streak to 8 games by knocking off Rose-Hulman 66-62. The Lions are off to their best start in over 2 decades holding a 8-0 overall record while moving to 2-0 in the HCAC.
Karlee Mills led the way for the Lions in the thrilling overtime victory. Mills finished with 23 points, 4 rebounds and 6 steals.
Morgan Jenkins was also solid posting 12 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists.
Anyiah Murphy was strong off the bench scoring 10 points while grabbing 8 rebounds.
Madison Drummonds also posted a solid outing scoring 7 points while grabbing a team-high 10 rebounds and blocking 2 shots.
UP NEXT: Your Mount St. Joseph Lions are back in action on Saturday, December 16th when the Panthers of Hanover College visit the Harrington Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 1pm.
