Late heroics lift Lady Roaring Lions
December 11, 2010--Uniontown, Pa.
The Penn State Fayette Lady Roaring Lions went back and forth all afternoon with Penn State Schuylkill, as both teams went on runs to take leads. But in the end, sophomore Kaitlyn Novak's three-pointer from the left wing with 16 seconds left proved to be the decisive blow as Fayette was victorious, 77-75, in their first overtime game of the season. The win improves the Lady Roaring Lions to 2-0 in conference play, 2-8 overall. This marks the best ever conference start for the Lady Roaring Lions, as they had never won their first two conference games.
Novak scored nine points and grabbed five rebounds, but it wasn't how much she scored, but when that mattered most. Following a missed jumper by Schuylkill, sophomore Jennifer Thomas grabbed the rebound and Fayette pushed the ball down the floor. Some defensive confusion left Novak open on the wing, and she made the Lady Lions pay with her only three-point field goal of the contest. Freshman Shelby Yourchik put Fayette up by two with a free throw in the waning seconds, and Schuylkill could not convert on their final attempt. The Lady Roaring Lions outscored the Lady Lions 9-7 in overtime, shooting 43 percent from the field. However, the biggest difference in overtime was free throw shooting. Although shooting a dismal 2-for-9 from the charity stripe, Fayette made more free throws (2) in overtime than Schuylkill attempted (0), creating the difference in the final outcome.
Freshman guard Jill Guthrie scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds to lead Fayette, and her layup with 38 seconds remaining in regulation brought Fayette to within two. After two missed free throw attempts by Schuylkill, Fayette was rewarded with an offensive rebound and sophomore Kasey Ruble put in two of her 15 points to tie the score at 68 with 23 seconds remaining. Sophomore Kayla Hatfield scored 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting to round out the Lady Roaring Lions in double figures.
Fayette won the battle in the paint, scoring 38 points to Schuylkill's 24, while they also capitalized on the Lady Lions miscues, scoring 20 points off of 21 forced turnovers. Schuylkill won the rebounding battle 54-50, outshot Fayette 42 percent to 37, but Fayette was able to keep the game close late, which led to the late game heroics of Novak. Despite shooting 42 percent from the free throw line (16-of-38), Fayette managed to keep the Schuylkill lead to less than 10 points throughout the second half.
Schuylkill was led by Laneesha Harrison, who went 4-for-5 from three-point range, on her way to a game-high 26 points. Bree Green added 16 points and nine rebounds, while Shanita Cottman pitched in a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Fayette takes a four week hiatus before taking on Penn College on Saturday, Jan. 8, at 1:00 p.m. in the Community Center Main Arena.