The Golden Eagles women's basketball team erased a 28-point deficit to escape with a 71-64 overtime victory, over California State University – Maritime Academy. La Sierra improved to 3-3 in Cal Pac play (7-14 overall).
The Golden Eagles were looking to even the season series with the Keelhaulers who defeated La Sierra 63-45 on their home court. And Thursday's contest looked to be a carbon copy of that game with Maritime jumping out to an early lead. The Keelhaulers quickly jumped ahead 8-0, connecting on their first three field goal attempts.
With 6:11 remaining in the first half, Maritime had stretched their lead to 36-9, and it looked as though the rout was on. But over the remaining six minutes of the half, the Golden Eagles outscored the Keelhaulers 10-0, trimming the lead to 36-19 by the halftime break.
At the beginning of the second half, the Golden Eagles started where they left off in the first half, going on a 20-10 run that cut the lead to 46-36 with 14:15 to play. But La Sierra didn't stop there, they continued to chip away at the lead, and finally catching the Keelhaulers at 48-48 on a VyVy Tran layup, with 7:13 left in the game.
The Keelhaulers regrouped and quickly answered with a 7-2 run to regain the lead at 55-50 with just over four minutes to play. In similar fashion to the first half, the Golden Eagles outscored the Keelhaulers 9-2 over the final six minutes of regulation.
After a Golden Eagles timeout, Tina Fantroy hit what looked to be the go ahead basket with 18 seconds on the game clock, but was subsequently called for an offensive foul and the basket was disallowed.
After Karissa Booker missed a field goal for the Keelhaulers, the Golden Eagles had a look at the buzzer, but Tina Fantroy's attempt, while on line fell short of its target, sending the game into overtime.
The Keelhaulers struck first in the overtime period, but the Golden Eagles quickly answered with 10 straight points, taking a 67-59 lead with 1:35 to play. It proved to be enough for the Golden Eagles, and completed a comeback that will be remembered for a long time.
Tina Fantroy led the team with 28 points and 13 rebounds. Kristin Brummett added 11 points and eight rebounds, while Faith Fantroy was just short of a double double of her own, finishing with nine points and eight rebounds. Vyvy Tran scored a career-high 11 points, connecting on all three of her 3-point attempts.
It was a tale of two halves for La Sierra who shot just 6-of-33 (18%) in the first half, followed by 17-of-35 (49%) in the second half and overtime period.
The women's basketball team will host Simpson University in their final home game of the season, this Saturday night. Prior to the game, which is slated for a 630 start, the team will recognize their three seniors on this year's roster (Faith Fantroy, Tina Fantroy, and Destiny Melton).
