REDLANDS, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Basketball team staged another fourth quarter comeback Saturday evening this time erasing an 11-point deficit to beat Occidental College 73-69 in overtime.
The Bulldogs keep their winning streak intact as they rattle off their sixth win in a row, improving to 13-4, 8-1 SCIAC, while holding onto the second place slot within the conference standings. They are now 5-1 inside Currier Gym on the season.
Hannah Jerrier (Canton, MA) led all scorers with 27-points, one off of her career high. She did add another double double to her total this season as she posted 11 rebounds along with four assists, a steal and a block. Alyssa Downs (South San Francisco, CA), despite being held scoreless in the first half overcame the slow start to finish with 15 points, eight of which came in the fourth quarter and included three free-throws with :16 seconds left on the clock that tied the game sending it to OT. She also finished with eight rebounds, four assists and a block.
Jerrier got the offense going scoring the first four points for the Maroon and Grey as they led by four, 6-2, three minutes into the opening period. This lead extended to six following a Jerrier jumper and a made free throw by Chyanne Pagkalinawan (Valencia, CA) with 5:29 left on the clock.
The Tigers were able to close the gap to one on two different occasions, 11-10 and 13-12, but a late jumper from Julia Balestreri (Pleasanton, CA) would give the Bulldogs a three-point lead after one quarter of play.
The start of the second quarter was tough for the Bulldogs managing just one point across the first three and a half minutes. But during this stretch they held the Tigers scoreless for almost three minutes to maintain their lead. With 5:58 left in the quarter the Tigers found themselves in a tie (18-18) for the first time since it was scoreless in the opening minute of the game. During this push for Oxy they managed to outscore Redlands 21-8 to go in front by double digits. Balestreri was able to hit a jumper as time expired to end the half, which pulled UR within single digits, 33-24.
As bad as the second quarter ended, the third quarter was even worse, seeing the deficit grow to 15, 39-24, as the Bulldogs did not score until the seven minute mark when Jerrier broke the drought with a pair of free throws.
After an Oxy basket with 3:25 left that made it a 14-point game, 47-33, the Bulldogs ended the period on a 9-4 run to again trail by nine, 51-42.
Aliyah Anderson (Oceanside, CA) made a big three in the opening minutes of the fourth, but the Bulldogs still found themselves down by double digits with 6:46 left in the game.
Over the final 6:27 Redlands used a 20-8 run to tie the game at 65. During this surge on offense the Bulldogs' three graduates stepped up and scored all 20 of their points with Jerrier adding 10, Downs with eight, and Pagkalinawan with two points and two assists. The final three points of the run came from Downs who converted three free throws after getting fouled on a three-point attempt with :16 seconds remaining in regulation.
In extra time the Tigers regained the lead on a pair of free throws. Jerrier made one-of-two on the Bulldogs first possession and Colbi Zorich (Kenmore, WA) would make both her free throw attempts to give UR a lead, 68-67. This advantage would be good enough to secure the win as they outscored the Tigers 8-2 over the final 3:54.
The Bulldogs shot 37.1% from the field, 27.3% from three-point territory and 85.7% from the free-throw line. They held a 39-38 edge on the glass, added eight points off turnovers, 11 second chance points and 20 points in the paint.
Redlands will head back on the road twice this next week first against Chapman University on Wednesday, January 25 (7:00pm) before going to Thousand Oaks, CA to take on California Lutheran University on Saturday, January 28 (5:00pm).