WASHINGTON - This is a game the Gallaudet University women's basketball team wishes it could go back and replay the final minute of regulation.

The Bison held a five-point lead over Penn St.-Abington in a key North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) South Division game here Wednesday night in the Field House with 52 seconds left. A costly Bison foul led to two made free throws and a missed Gallaudet jump shot gave the Nittany Lions a chance to tie it on a 3-pointer with 11 seconds left. GU missed a final shot, with four seconds left, as the teams went into overtime knotted at 62.

This was the first overtime game for Gallaudet (4-8, 2-2 NEAC) and Penn St.-Abington (5-7, 3-1 NEAC) this season as the Nittany Lions won, 77-74.

PSA scored the first three points in the extra frame before Gallaudet used a 10-2 run in one minute and 26 seconds to take a 72-67 lead. Freshman forward Cassidy Perry (Frederick, Md.) scored four of GU's 10 points during the run. The Nittany Lions turned to senior guard Laquana Nagbe (23 points) to come through with another key 3-pointer. Nagbe drained the game-tying 3-pointer at the end of the fourth quarter and made a 3-pointer at the 1:16 mark in overtime to cut the lead down to two, 72-70. GU had its next shot blocked by Nagbe and opened the door for Penn St.-Abington to tie the game, once more. 

Perry, who scored half of Gallaudet's 12 overtime points, made a layup on a great pass by junior guard Emelia Beldon (Frederick, Md.) to move the Bison back in front, 74-72, with 39 ticks left in the first overtime.

PSA senior guard Sydney Barrow (23 points, 10 rebounds) took things over in the closing minute as she made three big layups. Her second of three layups knotted the game for a 13th time and her last layup, with three seconds left, was the 15th lead change in the contest.

Gallaudet couldn't inbound the ball in the waning seconds as any chance of a final shot went out the door.

The game got off to a slow start as GU led 8-6 after 10 minutes of play and took a 28-24 lead into halftime.

GU had four players in double figures led by Perry's 20 points and nine rebounds. Freshman guard Sunita Schmidjorg (Austin, Texas) added 18 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals. Fellow freshman guard Rajena Guettler (Frederick, Md.) finished with a career best 16 points and 13 rebounds for a double-double. Beldon tallied 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds. 

BISON TRACKS

• GU held a 47-38 edge in rebounds
• The Bison scored 10 second-chance points off 12 offensive rebounds
• Both teams scored 20 points off turnovers
• The two teams combined for 82 points scored in the paint and 41 turnovers
• PSA received 26 points from its bench
• The largest lead of the game was six, held by GU early in the third quarter
• Gallaudet led for nearly 32 minutes in the game
• The contest was tied for over four minutes

UP NEXT
GU will hit the road and head north to Reading, Pa., on Saturday, Jan. 18, for a 3 p.m. conference game at Penn St.-Berks (6-6, 2-2 NEAC).