St. Mary's City, Md. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland women's basketball notched its second straight Capital Athletic Conference overtime victory Wednesday night as the Seahawks picked up another come-from-behind win – this time handing York College of Pennsylvania a 79-70 setback.
Free throws keyed St. Mary's (5-3, 2-0 CAC) triumph as the Seahawks went 33-of-45 from the charity stripe to overcome a seven-point halftime deficit and then outscored York, 35-28, in the second half to force the extra period for the second consecutive game.
Senior forward Jamie Roberts (Rockville, Md./Barrie) tallied 10 of her career-high 21 points in the overtime stanza in leading the hosts to a 20-11 run. Roberts was a perfect 8-of-8 from the free throw line and finished the game with an 11-of-14 effort.
Sophomore guard Pui Sham (Springfield, Va./West Springfield) kicked off the extra period with her third three-pointer of the night to continue the Seahawk rally. First-year Brittany Hicks (Dover, Pa./York Catholic) pulled York within one with a bucket at 4:20 but the Spartans would not get any closer than one. St. Mary's used a 13-4 run to finally put the game out of reach for York, leading by as many as 10 with 38 seconds remaining in the game.
First-year forward Shana Lewis (Bowie, Md./Bowie) and Sham joined Roberts in double figures. Lewis dropped 18 points while adding a team-best eight rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal. Sham matched her season-high with 16 while grabbing four boards.
York (5-3, 2-1 CAC) fell behind 8-2 early in the game before a 27-7 run over nearly 14 minutes and 20 points in the paint had the Spartans on top by 14 with 2:54 remaining in the first half. The first-year duo of Hicks and Kristen Haley (Silver Spring, Md./Georgetown Visitation) combined for 17 points and 13 rebounds as the visitors held a 31-24 halftime lead.
The second half featured eight tied scores as the Seahawks battled back with a 7-0 spurt to start the period and make it 31-all. After that neither team led by more than three points at any given time. Hicks gave York a 59-57 edge at 00:50 before sending Lewis to the line at 00:36. Lewis connected on both and then Hicks missed an attempt at the other end of the court (00:14) and Sham's three-point try was off the mark at 00:04 to force OT.
Hicks finished the night with game-highs of 28 points and 13 caroms while senior Jaimie Sapp (Bluemont, Va./Loudoun Valley) added 14 and Haley contributed 10 points along with nine rebounds.
St. Mary's continues its home-stand this Saturday, December 11 with conference action against Hood College in the first half Saturday's doubleheader in the Michael P. O'Brien Athletics & Recreation Center Arena. The women's tip-off is at 2:00 pm followed by the men's at 4:00 pm.