Women's Basketball Suffers 95-88 Overtime Loss to Trinity Christian

PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. – The Roosevelt University women's basketball team lost in overtime to Trinity Christian College by the score of 95-88 in CCAC Conference action on Saturday, January 29 at DeVos Gymnasium.  The Lakers fell to 6-9 in the CCAC and 7-12 overall on the season with the loss.

Trinity Christian scored the first four points of the game and opened an 8-3 lead just under four minutes in, but the Lakers came back to even things up at 11-11 on a Nicole Poole three-pointer with 3:36 to go.  The opening quarter ended with the Lakers trailing the home team 15-14.

The Trolls jumped out to a 24-14 advantage to begin the second quarter with the Lakers pulling to within 30-27 with 3:21 to go on an Amelia McNutt layup.  However, Trinity Christian scored the next five points and closed out the half with a 41-34 advantage.

In the third quarter, the Trolls upped their lead to nine points, but the Lakers cut the deficit to one-point at 53-52 after two Gabrielle Beggs' free throws with just under three minutes left.  Trinity Christian once again increased its lead, this time to 61-54 with 1:43 to go, and held a 63-58 margin heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lakers scored the first five points of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 63-63 just over two minutes in, but the Trolls went up by nine points again at 74-65 with 4:40 remaining.  Roosevelt came back with the next seven points, fueled by four points from Beggs and a three by Shawna Conger, to close the gap to 74-72 with 2:20 left to go. 

With just over a minute left to play, Poole hit a jump shot to even the game up at 76-76, but Trinity Christian went back ahead 80-76 with 32 seconds left.  The Lakers pulled to within 80-79 after a Beggs free throw and a Conger layup with 11 seconds to play.  Roosevelt was forced to foul and the Trolls hit one of two shots to lead 81-79, but Beggs was fouled with just seconds to go, hitting both shots to tie the game at 81-81 and send the game to overtime.

Both teams hit threes to begin overtime and Beggs knocked down another free throw with 3:11 to play to give the Lakers their first lead of the game at 85-84.  Roosevelt also led 87-86 after two free throws by Conger, but the Trolls took over the game from that point with a 9-1 run to take the conference win.

GAME DETAILS

Score:   Roosevelt                            14           20           24           23           7              88
                Trinity Christian                15           26           22           18           14           95

Records: Roosevelt 7-12, 6-9 (CCAC) | Trinity Christian 12-8, 7-7 (CCAC)

Location: DeVos Gymnasium | Palos Heights, Ill.

KEY STATS

• Gabrielle Beggs scored a career-high 28 points, making 20 of 23 shots from the free throw line
• Amelia McNutt just missed out on a double-double with a career-high 26 points & nine rebounds
• Shawna Conger registered 14 points, seven rebounds, & seven assists
• Nicole Poole tallied 12 points & eight rebounds
• RU shot 34.3% from the field & 37.5% from three-point range
• TCC went  40.5% from the field & 25% from behind the arc
• The Trolls outrebounded the Lakers 61 to 44

NEWS & NOTES

• The Lakers lead the all-time series over the Trolls with a 12-6 record
• RU now sits in ninth place in the CCAC standings & trails Holy Cross by one game for eighth place & the final spot for the CCAC Tournament
• Click here to view the current CCAC Conference standings

NEXT UP

The Lakers continue CCAC Conference action on Wednesday, February 2 when they travel to Joliet, Ill. to face the University of St. Francis.  Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30pm at the Sullivan Center on the campus of St. Francis.