Women's Basketball came out on top in an overtime thriller Saturday afternoon.
The Ravens took down the Culver-Stockton College Wildcats, 81-79, at home.
Tied 66-66 after four quarters of action, the Ravens fell behind 77-73 with 2 minutes to play in overtime. Alleigh Kramer cut the deficit in half with a good drive into the paint, then a steal by Kennedy Nicholson led to a foul and a free throw by Kramer to cut the C-SC lead to 1 point.
The Ravens defense forced another Wildcats turnover, and Aaliyah Raines gave the Ravens the lead with a jumper from the elbow. After another Wildcats turnover and a Raines free throw, the Ravens forced yet another turnover – the Wildcats turned the ball over 26 times in the game – and Nicholson caught a long inbounds pass for a layup to put the Ravens up by 4 with 11 seconds left. The basket gave Nicholson 21 points in the game, a new career high.
The drama wasn't done yet, though, as the Wildcats quickly scored and then the Ravens missed two free throws. A late 3-point heave by the visitors went wide and the Ravens came away with the 2-point win.
Joining Nicholson in double-figures was Kramer with 12 points, and Raines and Josie Weishaar each added 11 points.
The Wildcats started the game off hot, hitting their first three 3-pointers of the contest to jump out to an early lead. The Ravens didn't start off as hot, connecting on just 1-of-7 from deep in the first quarter, and trailing 16-11 after 10 minutes of action.
The Ravens finally got rolling late in the second quarter. A 9-0 run gave the home team its first lead since the first minute of the game, and a majority of the damage came inside the paint where the Ravens had a decided advantage. The Ravens outscored the Wildcats 18-2 in the paint in the opening half.
The Wildcats battled back in the third quarter and held a 44-41 lead late, but Nicholson drilled a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the teams into the fourth quarter all tied up. Nicholson set a new career high with five 3-pointers in the game.
The Ravens held a 66-60 lead late in the fourth quarter, but the Wildcats scored 6-straight and then held the Ravens without a shot in the final seconds to send the game into overtime.
The Ravens move to 5-4 on the season and 3-2 in Heart of America play. They'll hit the road for their next contest, a Tuesday, Dec. 5 tilt at Grand View University.
