Evergreen Edges Lady Owls in Overtime
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. (January 23, 2009)--It took an overtime period to settle tonight’s contest, but it was the Geoducks claiming their first-ever win in Klamath Falls, 68-66, tonight at Danny Miles Court. The loss drops Oregon Tech to 11-9 overall and 4-7 in conference play. With the win, The Evergreen State College improves to 9-9 overall and 4-7 in the conference standings.
The Owls trailed by as many as 10 points, 22-10, before a 7-0 Tech run closed the deficit to three points at 22-19. A Lisa Busch 3-point field goal put the Owls on top 32-31 with only 45 seconds remaining in the period, but a Jeanette Owens layup would close out the scoring and give the Geoducks a 33-32 edge heading to intermission.
The first basket of the second stanza gave the Owls a 34-33 lead, but the Geoducks took control to go up five points, 43-37, with 15:35 remaining to play and still claimed a 50-43 advantage with 8:24 on the clock.
An ensuing 7-0 Owl run tied the contest at 50-50 before an Alex Saab layup put Evergreen back on top 52-50 with 2:00 minutes to play. The teams then traded points from the free throw line before Alex Saab connected on a jumper to give Evergreen another lead, 55-54, with just over a minute to go.
After both teams came up empty on their next possessions, the Owls got the ball to Amanda Johnston under the basket with less than five seconds to play. Johnston was fouled on the shot and went to the line for two free throws with 2.9 seconds on the clock. Johnston missed the first but made the second to send the game into overtime tied 55-55.
The Geoducks took advantage of the overtime period, going up by six points on three separate occasions and eventually took a 67-60 lead with 18 seconds to go. The Owls did convert on back-to-back 3-pointers, but with three seconds and the length of the court to go, did not get a shot off before the buzzer sounded, falling by the final 68-66.
Nicole Morgan finished with a double-double 17 points and 11 rebounds to pace the Owls. Amanda Johnston led the Owls with a game-high 18 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Kellie Morey finished with 13 points followed by Lisa Busch with 12.
Kristi Auckland and Alex Saab finished with a team-high 15 points leading Evergreen State, followed by Jeanette Owens with 12.
Tech will host Northwest University Saturday, January 24th, with the tip-off set for 5:30 p.m.