Career Marks by McCormack and Taylor Not Enough in Double OT Thriller to Covenant

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SEWANEE, Tenn. - The Sewanee women's basketball team used a strong fourth quarter to force overtime against Covenant in the finale of the Sewanee Holiday Classic, but the Tigers dropped the second matchup of the season with the Scots, 110-103, in double overtime Saturday afternoon inside Juhan Gymnasium.

INSIDE THE MATCHUP
Final Score: Covenant (5-5) 110, Sewanee (3-6) 103 (2OT)
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HOW IT HAPPENED
-The teams traded points in the opening quarter, but Covenant led the contest, 20-19, after 10 minutes.

-In the second quarter, Covenant went on a 7-0 run in the first 6:30 minutes of the period before Bella Taylor scored. The Scots outscored the Tigers, 18-8, in the period to lead 38-27 at halftime.

-The Tigers held tough with Covenant in the third quarter, outscoring the Scots, 22-21, but still trailed, 59-49, heading into the final period.

-The fourth quarter belonged to the Tigers and Hannah McCormack. Her 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting from the field helped the contest go into overtime.

-Trailing 78-69 with 2:11 to go in regulation, the Tigers went on an 11-2 run to send the game into overtime, tied at 80.

-McCormack tied the contest at 78 with 47 seconds to go, and after Covenant made a layup on the next possession, McCormack tied the contest again with seven seconds to go.

-Down five, 89-84, with 1:47 to go in the overtime period, Allison Hitchcock made a jump shot with 1:23 to go to cut the deficit to one possession.

-After a free throw by Covenant to cut the deficit to four points, 90-87, McCormack drained a key three-pointer on the next possession to make it a one-point contest.

-After a Sewanee foul and Covenant free throws to make the contest a three-point game with 34 seconds to go. After missing a three-pointer by Sue Kim, she corralled her own rebound to maintain possession in favor of the home team. Kim passed to Bella Taylor, who attempted and made a three-pointer to tie the game at 92 with 14 seconds to go.

-A missed shot by Covenant forced the contest to go into a second overtime.

-Tied at 97 with 3:35 left in the second OT, the Scots scored on three free throws to make it 100-97. From there, they would not relinquish the lead from the rest of the game.

-The deficit would get as low as one point, 104-103 with 1:12 left, but the Scots went on a 6-0 run for the rest of the game.

NOTABLE
-The Tigers cracked the century mark in a contest for the first time since Nov. 19, 2011, when they dropped 125 points in a 125-58 win over Johnson (Tenn.).

-This is the first double overtime game for the Tigers since Feb. 12, 2017, when they went two extra periods against Rhodes, winning 95-91. This is the first double OT contest at home since Feb. 6, 2015 when the Tigers defeated Hendrix, 78-74.

SEWANEE KEY STATISTICS
-Hannah McCormack and Bella Taylor each recorded new career-highs on Saturday. Taylor posted her seventh 30-point game of her career, leading all scorers with 35 points with 13 rebounds and six assists. The junior shot 11-of-22 from the field and 10-of-10 from the charity stripe. Her previous high of 32 points came last season at Berry on Jan. 6 and at Rhodes on Feb. 12.

-McCormack scored 33 points for the Tigers for her first 30-point game of her career,, surpassing her career-best of 28 against Hendrix on Jan. 23, 2015. The senior shot 14-of-24 from the field, grabbed eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.

-Allison Hitchcock scored 12 points, while Sue Kim scored nine points and collected seven assists.

COVENANT KEY STATISTICS
-All five starters for Covenant were in double figures, led by Bekah Walter with 23 points and Jessica Bell with 21.

-Joanna Smith recorded a game-best 21 rebounds and scored 16 points.

UP NEXT
The Tigers will ring in the new year with a non-conference matchup with Wesleyan (Ga.) on Tuesday at 2 p.m. inside Juhan Gymnasium.

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