Despite holding an 18-point lead in the second half, the Seattle University women’s basketball team fell victim to a combination of cold field goal shooting and a significant free throw advantage for Kent State as the Golden Flashes pulled out an 89-77 overtime victory in the third place game of the Husky Classic Sunday at Bank of America Arena.
Playing only five minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Breanna Salley () scored 13 of her team-high 17 points in the second half, plus she finished with four rebounds, three assists, three steals, and two blocked shots. The offense was more balanced than in Friday’s game, as Maggie McCarthy (, ) contributed ten points and seven rebounds while Cassidy Murillo () finished with nine points, nine rebounds, and three assists.
After a layup by Salley increased ’s lead to 54-36 with 16:34 remaining in regulation, started chipping away at the lead, first going on a 9-2 run over a four-minute span to bring the deficit into single digits. With 3:46 left in the second half and SeattleU up 72-66, Kent State finished the half by outscoring the Redhawks 10-4, the last two on a layup by Stephanie Gibson with 37 seconds remaining to send the game into overtime.
(4-1) drew first blood in the overtime with two free throws by Gibson, followed by baskets by Jamilah Humes and Ellie Shields to increase the lead to six. After McCarthy made one of two free throw attempts, Chenel Harris hit a three-pointer with 1:19 remaining to seal the victory, as missed all six of its field goal attempts in the extra session.
The story of the second half was ’s continual march to the free throw line, as the referees called 21 fouls on after halftime versus just nine on the Golden Flashes. attempted almost as many free throws (31) as field goals (33) in the second half and overtime, finishing 29-of-46 from the charity stripe for the game while SeattleU earned only 23 free throw attempts, making 13 of them.
The first half went back and forth, with eight ties and seven lead changes in the first 11 minutes of the game. At the 8:35 mark, Julee Christianson (Missoula, Mont.) hit a three-pointer, followed by two baskets by Salley to give Seattle University a 29-22 lead. SeattleU went on another spurt later in the first half, as Murillo and Elle Kerfoot (, B.C.) hit consecutive three-pointers to key a 9-0 run to give the Redhawks a 40-25 advantage.
Five players scored in double figures for , led by Anna Kowalska with 18 points and eight rebounds. Shields filled in nicely when Kowalska had foul difficulties, earning 14 points, while Humes contributed 13 points, four rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Gibson earned 11 points, four rebounds, eight assists, and two steals, and Yoshica Spears also scored 11 points, plus six of her eight rebounds came on the offensive end.
After shooting 53.6 percent from the field in the first half, Seattle University shot only 32.5 percent from the field in the second half, finishing at 41.2 percent field goal shooting, including 8-of-26 from behind the three-point line. The Redhawks also committed 26 turnovers, but did have a 45-41 rebounding edge over .
(1-3) opens its ten-game home schedule Tuesday, Dec. 2, against former conference rival Seattle Pacific starting at 7 p.m. at the . Justin Kesterson and Chris McCullough will broadcast all of the action from courtside on GoSeattleU.com, where live stats will also be available.