Regis Women’s Hoop Unable to Prevail in Overtime Contest

NORTON, Mass. – Regis College rallied late in regulation to force an extra period, but Wheaton College took the lead early in the overtime session on its way to an 87-77 victory over the Pride Wednesday night in a non-conference women's collegiate basketball game at Emerson Gymnasium.

Pam Gonzalez (Revere, Mass.) played all 45 minutes and scored a career-high 36 points, including 23 points after halftime, on 14-of-27 shooting from the field, plus she pulled down 16 rebounds, also a career high. Gonzalez's 36 points are the second-most in a single game in program history and the most by a Pride player in almost seven years. Courtney Doherty (Willimantic, Conn.) also played the entire game and finished with 16 points, and Valerie Whalen (Stoughton, Mass.) collected 12 points, eight of them in the first quarter, along with eight rebounds and four assists.

Greta Minos made the first of two free throw attempts with 39 seconds left in regulation to give Wheaton a five-point advantage, but Gonzalez would grab the rebound off the miss and convert a driving layup to bring the Pride within three points. On the ensuing possession, Madi Zancan (Cumberland, R.I.) stole the ball and found Gonzalez, who was fouled and made both free throw attempts to close the Regis deficit to one at 72-71 with six seconds left.

Riley Sprague was fouled, but hit only one of her two free throw chances. After a timeout allowed the Pride to advance the ball to midcourt, Gonzalez took a pass from Jordyn Striggles (Bridgewater, Mass.) and made another driving layup with 1.5 seconds remaining to tie the game at 73-73. Wheaton had a chance to hit a game-winning shot, but a jumper by Reagan Keyter was off-target, forcing the extra five-minute period.

Wheaton (3-1) scored the first five points of overtime and held Regis without a field goal for over three minutes before Gonzalez hit a three-pointer to cut the Lyon lead in half at 80-77. That would be the last made field goal for the Pride as the Wheaton defense stiffened while the Lyons hit 7-of-8 free throw attempts in the final 30 seconds to clinch their second straight overtime victory.

The Pride scored the first nine points within the opening two minutes of the game, but Wheaton quickly responded with a 12-4 scoring run, capped by a three-pointer from Minos, to pull within one at 13-12 midway through the first quarter. Consecutive baskets by Emma Kiernan put the Lyons on top at 16-15, but a layup by Gonzalez in the final seconds of the period helped the Pride retake the lead at 20-17 after the first quarter.

Wheaton opened the second quarter with an 8-1 scoring run to open a 25-21 advantage, and then a three-pointer by Madeline Duwe later in the period increased the Lyon lead to 30-25. The Pride rebounded by putting together an 11-3 scoring run, starting with five points from Doherty and capped by six points from Gonzalez. Duwe hit another three-pointer to tie the game at 36-36, but Gonzalez hit a layup as time ran out to give the Pride a two-point lead at halftime.

Kiki Walters opened the third quarter scoring with two free throws to tie the game before Doherty hit a three-pointer and then stole the ball, leading to a Gonzalez basket to extend the Pride lead to five points. The teams traded points the rest of the quarter, with Sprague hitting a three-pointer right before the buzzer to give the Lyons a 56-54 lead heading into the fourth period.

Gonzalez hit a three-pointer at the start of the fourth quarter to put the Pride back on top briefly before the Lyons retook the lead on consecutive layups by Abby Fernandes. Walters extended Wheaton's lead to six points at 65-59 with a jumper and a three-pointer, and the home team would remain ahead until the final moments of regulation.

Fernandes led the Lyons with 21 points on 10-for-18 field goal shooting along with seven assists, while Walters notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Minos also scored 14 points, Sprague contributed 11 points, and Keyter added eight points and 10 rebounds.

As a team, the Lyons shot 44.6 percent (33-for-74) from the field, including 6-for-17 from behind the three-point line, and 62.5 percent (15-for-24) from the free throw line. The Pride hit 41.2 percent (28-for-68) of their field goal attempts and 76.2 percent (16-for-21) of their opportunities from the charity stripe. Each team finished with 41 total rebounds.

Regis College (0-3) heads to Biddeford, Maine, to face University of New England Saturday, Nov. 19, starting at 1 p.m.