FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - The Southern Utah women's basketball team picked up their second overtime victory in a row and first road win of the season Saturday afternoon 82-76 over Northern Arizona.
The Thunderbirds opened strong, jumping out to an 11-point lead after just seven minutes of play. As a team, they shot 50 percent from the field in the opening quarter and out rebounded the 'Jacks 13-6. They would go into the second quarter with an 18-12 lead.
Things took a turn for the Lady T-Birds in the second quarter as they had one of their worst quarters of the season. After a jumper from Harley Hansen, the Lumberjacks went on a 12-0 run to take a 24-20 lead. The Thunderbirds were outscored 14-7 and went into halftime down 26-25.
Hansen had seven points in the opening half.
The T-Bird offense came out of halftime and it was clear that they had returned to form. They outscored the 'Jacks 23-16 in the third quarter behind seven points from Breanu Reid. Reid gave the Thunderbirds a 39-38 lead with 3:06 to play in the quarter and was able to extend it to six points by the time the quarter ended.
Southern Utah got outscored by the Lumberjacks in the fourth quarter, but continued to fight when they were down and scored at all the right times to send the game to overtime. After going down by three with just under two minutes to play, Jessica Chatman hit her first three of the game to tie it at 65-65. NAU answered with a layup to make it 67-65, but with 25 seconds left in the game, Hansen made a steal on an inbounds play from the 'Jacks and finished it off with a layup to tie the game back up 67-67.
The Lumberjacks jumped out to a four point lead in the the overtime period, making it 74-70 with 2:31 left to go, but it was all Thunderbirds from there. A jumper from Rebecca Cardenas cut the lead to two and then back-to-back three's from Hansen and Cardenas made it 78-74 SUU.
The Lumberjacks would go on to score only once more as the Thunderbirds cruised the rest of the way to an 82-76 win.
Hansen was the leading scorer for the Thunderbirds with 19 points, her eighth-consecutive game in double-digits. The junior also pulled in five rebounds and had three steals. Reid, Chatman, and Ashley Larsen all finished in double-digits for SUU and Chatman was one rebound away from a double-double (13 points, nine rebounds).
The Thunderbirds will be back on the road next week as they travel to Sacramento State and Portland State.
Tickets
Tickets for the Lady T-Birds' next home game on January 24 against Northern Colorado are available at tbirdtickets.com or the America First Event Center Ticket Office. Fans can also purchase a Women's Sports Pass for access to all 2018-19 home games.
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Stay up to date during the 2018-19 Lady T-Bird Basketball season by following @SUUWBasketball on Twitter and Instagram and liking the Southern Utah Women's Basketball page on Facebook.
