Seton Hill used some dramatics from
Alexandra Hay to rally from 18 points down in a PSAC Crossover tilt at home against Shippensburg on Sunday afternoon. Hay beat the buzzer in regulation to tie the score and send the game to overtime and followed that wth the game winning layup with 8.2 seconds to play in overtime as the Griffins knocked off the PSAC East preseason favorite, 70-67. SHU improves to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in PSAC play while the Raiders drop to 5-3 overall and 1-3 in PSAC action.
SHU got out of the gate slow as they missed their first ten attempts from the field and trailed the Raiders 11-0 midway thru the first quarter.
Alexandria Deep ended the drought with a three pointer at the 3:59 mark. Deep followed that with another bucket to cut the lead to 11-5.
Halie Torris also hit a three in the quarter as SHU trailed 17-8 after one quarter of play.
The Raiders built their lead up to 22-10 with 7:46 left in the quarter. The Griffins then used a three pointer from
Mariah Wells and five points from Deep to go on an 8-0 run in just over a minute and trim the lead to 22-18 with 6:31 to play before the half. Ship then ran off 11 straight over the next three and a half minutes to build their lead to 33-18. Shippensburg took a 39-23 lead into the halftime break.
Shippensburg held a huge advantage at the free throw line in the first half as they shot 17 free throws to just 2 for the Griffins.
Ship scored the first basket of the second half to take their largest lead of the game at 41-23. SHU then responded with a 15-3 run to cut the lead to 44-38 with 2:51 left in the quarter.
Jenna Kaufman scored nine of the fifteen points during the run. Ship took a 48-41 lead into the fourth quarter.
Kaufman hit a three to cut the lead to 50-44 with 8:26 left. After two Ship free throws,
Lindsey Mifsud drilled a three and Deep hit back to back layups as SHU cut the lead to 52-51 with 5:24 to play. Ship hit one of two free throws and
Chrisanna Green hit two free throws to tie the score at 53 with just under five minutes to play. Ship extended their lead back to three at 56-53 with just over three minutes left. Green and Kaufman then scored buckets to give the Griffins their first lead of the game, 57-56 with 2:10 left. The Raiders hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 57 with 1:03 to play and after getting a defensive rebound drilled two free throws to take a 59-57 lead with just 5 seconds left. SHU called timeout to advance the ball and Hay rebounded a missed three pointer and just beat the buzzer with a shot from the baseline to tie the game at 59 and send the game to overtime.
The Griffins came out in overtime fast, hitting two three pointers, one each from Mifsud and Deep to take a 65-59 lead. Ship hit a three pointer and followed that up with two free throws to cut the lead to 65-64 with 2:14 left in OT. SHU then missed two free throws and Ship did the same, missing four in a row. Deep then hit one of two to extend the lead to 66-64 with 33 seconds left. The Raiders then converted a three point play to take a 67-66 lead setting up more Hay heroics. Hay beat her defender off the dribble and got to the rim and finished with the left hand to give SHU a 68-67 lead with 8.2 seconds left. The Griffins defense forced a missed layup and
Kinross Obiefule pulled down a big rebound with 2.1 seconds left. Obiefule was fouled and sank two free throws. Ship advanced the ball with a timeout but their last second three pointer to tie missed.
Neither team shot the ball great from the floor with Ship shooting 37% and the Griffins 36%. SHU held a 47-35 advantage in rebounds including a 14-4 advantage in offensive boards. The big difference in the team stats was the Raiders shooting 36 free throws to just 18 for the Griffins.
Alexandria Deep led the Griffins with 19 points.
Jenna Kaufman finished with another double double of 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Chrisanna Green also posted a double double of 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Lindsey Mifsud finished with 10 points.
SHU will return to action next Saturday when they host Kutztown at 1 PM next Saturday afternoon.
