PITTSBURGH, PA – The Villa Maria College women's basketball team played a thriller on Monday, when they battled Carlow University. The Vikings competed in their third game in three days and second straight in overtime, but they were once again victorious, defeating the Celtics 64-62. Villa now moves to 3-0 on the season as Carlow drops to 2-3.
The two teams traded buckets to start the game, but a three-pointer by
Tekia Gary gave the team a lead that they held during the entire first quarter. The largest lead came at the 3:28 mark, when Jordan Wright hit a three of her own to push the score to 15-7. The Celtics made a push and after the first ten minutes, Villa was ahead 15-11. The second quarter saw the opposition come back and tie the game and the two teams traded leads six times before
Dakaylah Winfield nailed a three and
Bianca Brown followed with a pair of buckets to extend the lead to six points. Going into the half, Villa held the advantage 31-27.
Coming out of the break, the Vikings maintained their lead after made shots by
Norvonee Hall and
Estella Anderson. However, the Celtics did not go away easy and made a comeback that cut their deficit to one going into the fourth quarter. In the final ten minutes of regulation, the intensity kicked up and both teams began trading points and playing strong defense. Heading into the final 16 seconds the Vikings found themselves down too, and Hall converted a layup thanks to an assist by Winfield to tie the game up and send the game to overtime.
The start of overtime saw Villa down six points with 1:38 to play, but after back-to-back missed free throws by Carlow, Winfield hit a three to cut the deficit in half. The following possession, Wright hit another three-pointer to even up the score at 62 and force a timeout. 20 seconds later,
Taliah Bush nailed the game winning shot inside the paint to help the team earn a 64-62 victory.
The Vikings return home on Saturday, Nov. 16 when they host Penn State – Greater Alleghany at 2 p.m. in the Athletic Center.
Be sure to stay up to date on all of your Vikings scores and awards by following @VillaVikings on Twitter and by liking the "Villa Maria Vikings" Facebook page.
