Celina DiPietro guards Asbury's Brittany Warren on Friday night. PPU Athletics Photo.
STATS
WEST MIFFLIN, Pa. -- The teams have been so closely matched for going on four years, it was only fitting that overtime was needed to decide things on Friday night.
In a rematch of last year's KIAC Tournament semifinals and the previous two KIAC Tournament championship games before that, No. 22-ranked Asbury (Ky.) University pulled out a 65-61, overtime win over Point Park University in a KIAC women's basketball game at CCAC-South.
Catie Fletcher had 20 points to lead Asbury (Ky.) (3-3, 1-0 KIAC) back from a 13-point deficit of 32-19 at the half to force overtime. Kylee Gorby added 18 points, and Brittany Warren had 11 points and a couple of big 3-pointers.
Carly Forse led Point Park with 19 points. She had 12 by halftime when Point Park built the double-digit lead. She had a chance for the win in the closing seconds of regulation, but things went to overtime tied at 54-54 when her jumper missed.
Leah Hurst added 13 points off the bench for Point Park. She was 8 for 8 from the foul line, including a pair of free throws for a 54-52 lead with 1:37.
Asbury forced overtime when point guard Gorby got to the basket for the tying hoop with 13 seconds left.
In a continuation of the second half, Asbury hit the big shots in overtime for the win. The Eagles made 5 of 8 field goals in the extra period.The Eagles shot 45 percent field goals in the second half and overtime. That was following a first half in which they shot 20 percent (7 for 35) amid the Pioneers' defense.
Forse hit a free throw in overtime to knot the score at 60-60 with 1:32 to go. Fletcher hit a jumper on the other end for a two-point Asbury lead. After the Pioneers came up empty on their next possession, Asbury appeared to do so on its next trip.
But Asbury's A.J. Lewis, who had all eight of her points after halftime, got a hold of an offensive rebound off her own miss and flung the ball in the hoop all in one motion for a 64-60 lead with 16 seconds left. It was Asbury's biggest lead of the game.
Forse then made 1 of 2 free throws for Point Park. By then, there were just three seconds left. Down by three with still four fouls to give, the Pioneers fouled four times within two seconds.
Finally in the bonus, Warren missed the first and made the second free throw for Asbury. With just one second and no timeouts, the Pioneers did not get off a good look at a shot.
Point Park ended up shooting 33 percent for the game, which was slightly better than Asbury's 32.9 percent. The Eagles had a lot of digging out to do from the first half. Point Park was ahead, 12-7, after the first quarter.
Asbury started hitting some shots in the third quarter and got within a couple of possessions. But Point Park was still up 44-33 when Hurst hit a big 3 late in the third.
Point Park was still up, 44-39, going into the fourth quarter. But Asbury started the fourth on a 9-3 run to take their first lead of the game, 48-47, with 5:52 on the clock.
Point Park returns to action Saturday at home versus Brescia (Ky.) at 12 p.m. The game will be broadcast by the Point Park Sports Network presented by Stretch Internet. Subscribe at http://portal.stetchinternet.com/ppu.
