Women's Basketball | 1/28/2022 10:05:00 PM
ELMIRA, N.Y. – Taylor Jung '25 drained a pair of free throws with three seconds left in overtime to secure a 59-58 victory for the Elmira College women's basketball program on Friday night inside Speidel Gymnasium. The last overtime contest for the Soaring Eagles was against the Highlanders at home on January 17, 2020, and resulted in a 72-71 victory for the Purple & Gold.
JUST THE BASICS:
SCORE: Elmira 59, Houghton 58 OT
LOCATION: Elmira, NY | Speidel Gymnasium
TEAM RECORDS: Elmira (7-9, 2-6 E8), Houghton (7-10, 1-7 E8)
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The Soaring Eagles would jump out to an early lead from the opening tip as Desiree Roy '25 hit a layup to make it 2-0. Elmira later increased its advantage to 12-1 as Taylor Albrecht '22 got a jumper to go at the 4:37 mark off an assist from Olivia Ayres '25. The Highlanders trimmed the gap to 14-8 before Nevaeh Winston '25 hit a layup to make it 16-8 before time expired.
Elmira opened the second quarter on a 6-0 run as Alyssa Waters '22 pushed the lead to double-digits before Roy and Winston followed with buckets of their own to make it 22-8 with 6:08 remaining. The Purple & Gold would lead by as many as 12 points late in the quarter before the Highlanders drained consecutive 3-pointers to cut the deficit to 30-24 heading into the locker room.
Houghton pulled to within a single possession of the Soaring Eagles early in the third quarter before Albrecht hit a jumper to give EC a 32-27 advantage. The Highlanders rallied to take the lead with 6:46 left in the quarter and would go up 36-32 following a trey from Abby Guiher. Elmira would stay within a single possession of Houghton before a trey with less than 20 seconds remaining pushed the lead to 45-38.
Trailing 55-51 with 2:04 remaining in the fourth quarter the Soaring Eagles tallied four consecutive points courtesy of Albrecht and Waters to knot the score 55-55. EC held the Highlanders without a field goal over the final 2:23 of play to send the contest into overtime.
The extra five-minute session would see Albrecht open the scoring to give EC a 57-55 lead. That bucket by Albrecht would be the lone field goal in overtime for either team as the contest would be decided at the charity stripe.
Houghton knotted the score 57-57 before taking a 58-57 lead at the line with 1:30 left to play. Elmira would have several opportunities inside the paint to try and take a late lead before Jung would be followed with three ticks left on the clock. Both of her shots would seal the victory for Elmira despite a last-second attempt by the Highlanders.
Albrecht finished with a team-high 15 points for Elmira on 7-of-11 shooting, while Roy added 14 points and nine rebounds. Waters added 13 points for the Soaring Eagles, while Winston notched a game-high 13 boards.
UP NEXT:
The Soaring Eagles return to the court on Saturday for an Empire 8 matchup against Keuka beginning at 2:00 p.m.