Women’s Basketball Edged at La Sierra in Overtime, 78-73

RIVERSIDE, Calif.- The Eastern Nazarene College women's basketball team absorbed a tight 78-73 overtime-loss at La Sierra Tuesday to cap off its trip to California.

The Lions slide to 0-4 on the season while the Golden Eagles improve to 2-5 overall.

Mhiah Vickers (Westlake Village,Calif.) paced the visitors with 27 points while also adding five rebounds. Nicole Greer (Odenton, Md.) posted a double-double with 14 points and 11 boards. Elia Salazar (Los Angeles, Calif.) finished with seven points and seven rebounds.

The first half was closely contested as neither squad gained a lead larger than five points.

The two teams headed into the halftime intermission deadlocked at 34-34.

Eastern Nazarene trailed by 10 points with 5:13 remaining in the second half. Vickers strung together a 9-0 run on her own after Kristina Kaczmarek (Chatsworth, Calif.) drained a free throw to pull the Lions even at 62-62 with 2:40 on the clock.

After La Sierra halted the run with a basket by Kristen Brummett, Jessica Valadez (Los Angeles, Calif.) responded with a bucket to tie the game at 64-64 with 1:48 to go.

The Golden Eagles answered right back with a pair of free throws by Faith Fantroy before Vickers once again evened the game at 66-66 with a jumper.

At the end of regulation, both squads had posted 66 points to force overtime.

The hosts opened the extra session on a 7-2 run to claim a 73-68 lead with 27 seconds remaining as Tina Fantroy sank a three-pointer.

After Vickers made two free throws to cut the deficit to 73-70 with 15 seconds on the clock, La Sierra converted three of four attempts from the charity stripe to extend the margin to 76-70.

Vickers nailed a late triple to narrow the gap to 76-73 before the Golden Eagles sealed the victory with a pair of free throws by Faith Fantroy.

The Lions shot 36.2% from the floor on the day and 30% from behind the arc. The Golden Eagles connected on 42.6% of their field-goal attempts in the game, including 45% of their three-point tries.

Up next, Eastern Nazarene will open conference play at preseason-favorite and nationally-ranked No. 20 University of New England December 3.