WATCH POST-GAME
CEDARVILLE, Ohio –
Ella Sellars piled up 28 points and 10 assists to lead the Lady Jackets to an 87-82 victory in three overtimes against Wheeling at the Callan Athletic Center.
Emma Kay Martin provided 18 points off the bench and
Regan Hubert added 11 points including a pair of critical three pointers early in the third OT.
Cedarville heads into the Christmas break on a three-game winning streak and 7-5 overall.
Both sides had chances to secure the victory especially the visiting Cardinals, who held a 60-53 lead with just 1:33 left in regulation.
Sellars' three-point play with 23 seconds to go ultimately tied it and each team missed jumpers coming down the stretch.
The first OT featured a bizarre ending. Wheeling made two free throws with 1.7 seconds left for a 70-68 lead. Following a CU timeout,
Sarah Loughry was fouled before any time went off the clock and converted two free throws to tie it.
The Cardinals scored the final five points of the second OT to force a third extra session. Hubert hit back-to-back triples - the second of which gave the Jackets the lead for good, 83-80.
Quotable: Head Coach Addy Miller
"It was fun, an incredible game, an incredible atmosphere with the fans that were there – it was loud on both sides. It was just a really fun game to be a part of. It was an important game and it mattered, but sometimes you just take a step back and be like, 'Wow, this is why you coach and this is fun.' There was so many strategic things going into it on both sides. I thought the girls really stuck with it. We got stops when we needed to, we rebounded when we needed to, we hit shots when we needed to, and that's what propelled us at the end."
Quotable: Junior guard Regan Hubert
"We've practiced long and we've been in these moments where we just keep going, we have to win one more, we have to get three stops, we have to get a kill, and we've got to just keep doing the next right thing. We don't look at that we've been playing so long, but just making the next right decision, the next right move whether it's offensively or defensively."
Quotable: Sophomore guard Ella Sellars
"I think we just really buckled down and did what we needed to do to win. Obviously, it wasn't the prettiest and we would like to win by more, but at the end of the day it's a fun game going into three overtimes. That doesn't really happen that often."
Stinger Notes:
- The triple overtime game was the longest in program history. The Jackets had previously played a trio of 2OT contests.
- There were 21 lead changes and ten tie scores.
- Chloe Downing registered five blocked shots.
- Minutes played leaders included Sellars (49), Downing (47), and Hubert (45).
- Each side put together a run of ten unanswered points.
- Cedarville leads the all-time series, 2-0. The only other meeting was a 78-75 OT win in the 2002-03 season.
