NEW LONDON, Conn. – Southern Vermont College outscored Mitchell College 11-7 in overtime on Saturday to post an 85-81 victory in New England Collegiate Conference women's basketball action at the Yarnall Athletic Center.
Turquoia Johnson scored eight of SVC's 11 points in the extra period to finish with 13 for the game. She also grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds. Amber Flagg led all scorers with a season-high 34 points and added 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals. Javasha White chipped in with 10 points and six boards to round out the Mountaineers in double figures.
Amanda Garcia led five Mariners in double digits with 21 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Samantha Ryan recorded career highs of 16 points and 12 rebounds to record her first career double-double. Diamond Thomas chipped in with 15 points while Savannah Boyle and Jessica Shepherd contributed 12 and 11, respectively.
The Mountaineers shot 44 percent from the floor in the opening half and put up 50 points over the first 20 minutes. Despite Mitchell's best efforts to limit Flagg's touches on the offensive end, the NECC's second-leading scorer still found ways to put the ball in the basket. She finished the stanza with 22 points on 5-for-7 shooting from the field and 10-for-11 shooting from the line as the Mountaineers led 50-40 at the break.
The Mariners erased the deficit in the early stages of the second half, opening with a 12-2 run that concluded with a three-point play from Thomas that tied the score at 52-52 with 15:52 to go. The scoring then slowed as Mitchell built a three-point lead over the next 2:30. Southern Vermont, which went without a field goal for nearly eight minutes, stayed in the game by hitting six free throws during the stretch and pulled back ahead by one with 11:06 to play.
The score remained tight the rest of the way as the lead changed hands nine times in the half. Neither side led by more than three points in the final 15 minutes of regulation, and with less than a minute to play it was Flagg who drained a pair of free throws to tie the score once again at 72-72.
Thomas put the Mariners back in front by hitting two from the line with 21 seconds to go, setting the stage for a final SVC possession to either tie or win the game. Flagg's game-tying shot hit off the iron, but Shaniquewa Barnes came up with a big offensive rebound and putback and was fouled. Although she missed the go-ahead free throw, SVC gained the final possession when the ball was knocked out of bounds with 6.9 seconds to play. Chloe Longe got off a good look before the buzzer, but her runner from the elbow failed to go down.
SVC scored the first four points of the period and never yielded the lead. Johnson hit two shots and went 4-for-4 from the line to lead the charge, including a pair of freebies to ice the game with 1.5 seconds to go.
Both teams played with foul trouble throughout as a total of 60 fouls were called. Four Mitchell starters fouled out of the contest while one SVC starter took a seat on the bench. Flagg was the biggest beneficiary of all the whistles and finished 16-for-17 from the charity stripe.
Mitchell (1-9 overall, 1-3 NECC) will next play at Daniel Webster College on Tuesday, January 13 at 5:30 p.m. Southern Vermont (6-5 overall, 4-0 NECC) returns to action at Newbury College on Tuesday at 5:00 p.m.