Comeback Leads CBU Past UMKC in Double OT

Saturday, February 9

Kansas City, Mo.

12:00 PM

California Baptist University

13-10, 6-4

Kansas City

11-11, 5-4

OT 1

OT 2

California Baptist

UMKC

Photo by: Andrew Shortall

Comeback Leads CBU Past UMKC in Double OT

2/9/2019 2:59:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

By: Andrew Shortall, Asst. Sports Information Director

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Over the last six-and-a-half minutes of regulation, California Baptist University erased a 14-point deficit to force overtime and eventually defeat Kansas City in a crucial Western Athletic Conference road game on Saturday.

The Lancers secured the 95-92 double-overtime victory over the Roos, with the help of several big plays and great team play down the stretch. Lexy Ram came up with what stood up to be the game-winner with 13 seconds left in the second overtime session, and then came up with a key block on the Roos' first chance at a response.

UMKC's second shot to tie the game up was well off the mark and finally made CBU a winner after it ended the fourth quarter on a 19-5 run. The Roos, who came into the game tied for third in the conference, led for the first 40 minutes.

"It was a pretty exciting game, obviously, and just a real good team effort," Coach Jarrod Olson said. "There were so many big plays in that game, a lot of different people stepped up, played really well and made big plays at the right time. I am really excited for the team to be able to pull that out because it was such an intense game."

Britney Thomas scored a team-high 23 points on 9-for-16 shooting and had nine rebounds in 20 minutes. Caitlyn Harper was vital to the win, as she forced overtime with the game-tying bucket with 15 seconds left in regulation before finishing with 17 points (7-for-12). Ram finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and three assists.

Tiena Afu polished off a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds and was big in the fourth quarter, while Emma Meriggioli scored nine and had six rebounds and four assists.

With less than a win separating second and sixth place in the WAC, the meaning of the game was not lost on either team. CBU has now won four straight and seven of its last eight to improve to 13-10, 6-4 in conference, while UMKC falls to 11-11 and 5-4. The Lancers jumped from fifth to third place with the win.

CBU has a bye next week before a two home games against Grand Canyon and CSU Bakersfield on Thursday, Feb. 21 and CSU Bakersfield that Sunday at 4 p.m.

UMKC held a nine-point lead, 58-49, going into the fourth quarter. Thomas scored CBU's first eight points of the fourth to bring the deficit down as low as eight, 63-55, with 8:21 to play.

A quick spurt increased the Roos' lead to 14, 71-57, with 6:31 to play, but the Lancers quickly began chipping away. Four-straight points from Afu, three-pointers from Meriggioli and Ram and five points from Harper brought CBU all the way back to a tie game, 76-76. Harper got the equalizer down low with 15 seconds to play for CBU.

Here's another look at Caitlyn Harper's big bucket with 15 seconds left to force overtime today. #LanceUp pic.twitter.com/Rn9XZXnPRr
— CBU W. Basketball (@CBUwbb) February 10, 2019

On defense, the Lancers got the stop and nearly had the win at the buzzer off the hands of Thomas, but it was just off the mark to force overtime.

"We didn't play very well in the first half," Olson said. "We hit a little stretch there where we got a couple of shots to go down, our defense got a little tougher, the ball bounced our way a few times and we were able to take advantage of that."

CBU took its first lead of the game 26 seconds into overtime, thanks to Afu. The Lancers' lead grew as high as five, 81-76, with 3:08 left in the first overtime after a free throw from Meriggioli and layup from Harper.

The Roos managed to fight back and take an 83-81 lead with 21 seconds to play, but Georgia Dale tied the game six seconds later with a layup to force a second overtime.

There were several big shots today in CBU's 95-92 double overtime win over Kansas City. Here's a closer look at Georgia Dale's layup that tied the game with 15 seconds left in the first overtime. #LanceUp pic.twitter.com/Gmbli1RjUr
— CBU W. Basketball (@CBUwbb) February 10, 2019

It was a similar story over the next five minutes. CBU went up as many as four with two points each from Thomas, Harper and a three from Ram. Down 90-86 with 3:19 left, fought all the way back to tie the game 92-92 with 1:11 remaining.

The Lancers called timeout and drew up a play, but its first two shots were off the mark. CBU came up with both offensive rebounds, eventually leading to Ram's game-winning triple with 13 seconds left.

Lexy Ram with the 3️⃣❗️ CBU leads 95-92 with 13.4 seconds left in double OT. pic.twitter.com/qGZzLFdd7m
— CBU W. Basketball (@CBUwbb) February 9, 2019

"It's pretty much how we always play, we just want to move the ball to whoever's open and have them shoot it," Olson said of the game-winning play. "We were pretty fortunate to get two offensive rebounds there, we went to the glass pretty hard. Georgia has one and Emma has the other one, and as soon as Lex got the ball I knew it was in.

"It was just really great to see them all connect together, feed off each other and it was good resiliency to not get too down when we were struggling in the first half. It was good to see them fight back."