Women's Basketball Needs Overtime to Earn WHAC Win Over Madonna

(Lansing, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar women's basketball bounced back from their WHAC opening loss earlier in the week with a critical win over the Madonna University Crusaders 65-59 Saturday afternoon in Lansing.

The first quarter was all Cougars after a quick 5-2 start by the Crusaders.  A pair of Melanin Holman free throws would tie the game, and after a steal by Holman, she would go coast to coast to make it a 10-7 game in favor of the Cougars.  With the game tied at 10-10, Cleary would go on a 6-1 run, with baskets by Caitlyn Rayl and Samantha Hoelscher.  Hoelscher would also make a pair of free throws late in the quarter, and an Izzy Dugal layup on their last possession would give the Cougars a 20-11 lead through one period.

Izzy Dugal would extend the Cougar lead in the second quarter to eleven points on the first action of the period.  Madonna would start to chip away, and with 6:36 to play in the half, the Cougar lead had shrunk to 23-21.  Izzy Dugal would connect on a jumper, followed by a Melanin Holman layup to extend the lead back to six points.  Madonna would once again cut the lead to two points with under a minute to play, but Jess Andrew made a pair of free thows, and the two teams went into the half with the score 35-31 in favor of Cleary.

The Crusaders would come out strong in the third quarter, and tied the game after baskets on back to back possessions.  The punches would be traded for most of the quarter, but a Madonna made three pointer with 2:50 to go in the third would give the visitors their first lead since the first quarter, with the score 44-43.  An Izzy Dugal free throw tied the game, and it would remain tied heading into the fourth quarter.

Madonna would take a five point lead with 5:26 to go in the game, with the score 52-47.  Samantha Hoelscher would score on back to back possessions to make it a one point game, and Jess Andrew scored through contact with 3:54 to go to give the Cougars the lead once again at 53-52.  Karissa Cochran would hit from behind the arc one possession later, and Cleary's lead grew to 56-52 with 2:55 to play.  The Crusaders would hold Cleary scoreless down the stretch, and would make a layup with 2 seconds to go in the game to tie the score at 56-56, and overtime would be required to decide the winner.

Samantha Hoelscher would give the Cougars the lead on the first possession in overtime, and Karissa Cochran scored a layup with 1:06 to play to extend the lead to 60-56.  The Cougars would make their free throws down the stretch, and would hold on to win by a 65-59 score.

Samantha Hoelscher would have a game high 21 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Cougars.  Izzy Dougal would add 16 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 steals, while Melanin Holman added 13 points, 17 rebounds, and 6 steals.  Jess Andrew had 8 points and 8 assists.

Cleary improves to 2-4 overall, 1-1 in the WHAC.  The Cougars will hit the road on Tuesday, November 25, when they travel to Fort Wayne to take on the Indiana Tech Warriors for a 6:00 PM WHAC showdown.