WILLIMANTIC, Conn. – Junior guard Kya Mayo (Middletown) swished a go-ahead jump shot with the shot clock winding down with just under two minutes left in overtime and added another jumper a minute later as the Eastern Connecticut State University women's basketball team opened its season with an 80-72 non-conference overtime victory over Lasell University Wednesday evening at Francis E. Geissler Gymnasium.
In the final 30 seconds of regulation, first-year Eastern forward Alyssa Paquette (Claremont, NH) scored the tying points, Lasell missed two potential winning free throws with 16.8 seconds left and a potential game-ending shot at the buzzer by first-year senior guard Shania Lewis (Brooklyn, NY) was ruled to have come just after the honor.
Eastern scored the final eight points of overtime. In a game which featured 13 lead changes, Eastern broke the 11th and final tie on Mayo's jumper as the shot clock wound down in overtime, and after both teams missed, Mayo sank another jumper – both buckets assisted by first-year guard Nevaeh Clark (Cromwell) – to give a 76-72 lead with a minute left. In her first career start, senior guard Cara McGettigan (Southbury) then made Lasell pay for on an unforced Lasell turnover with 46 seconds left with an inside basket ]that pushed the lead to six with 20 seconds left, and Clark canned two free throws with 13.1 seconds left to close out the scoring.
Despite a young team which lost every starter from last year's NCAA tournament qualifier, Eastern won the game at the foul line. Despite being outscored by 14 points from the floor, Eastern was money at the foul line, sinking 28 of 35 attempts from the stripe, where it outscored the Lasers by 22 points.
Six-foot senior forward Taylor Salato (East Haven) – last year's first post player off the bench -- led four Eastern double-figure scorers with a career-high 27 points before fouling out with 16.8 seconds left in regulation, 11 coming on as many free throw attempts in the first half. Mayo and Clark (a combined 10-of-12 from the line) each added 13 points and McGettigan (4-of-4 FT) chipped in ten. At 5-feet-7 inches tall, Lewis led Eastern with 11 rebounds (five offensive) and two blocked shots, while the 5-foot-11 inch Paquette overcame a poor shooting night by grabbing ten boards.
Six players contributed at least six rebounds for the Warriors, who were on the verge of breaking the game open in the final two minutes of the third quarter when they scored six straight points on a pair of hoops from Mayo and two free throws by McGettigan to move out to a nine-point lead.
Lasell, however, chipped away and finally took a two-point lead on sophomore guard Kiara Cerruti's three-point field goal four minutes into the fourth quarter and there were six ties the rest of the way as the teams headed into overtime.
Sophomore guard Shirle Major of Lasell led the Lasers with 21 points, Cerutti adding 20 points and seven rebounds and sophomore guard Laura Johnson grabbing a game-high 17 rebounds.
Eastern, which averaged 16 turnovers a game despite winning 22 games, committed only 12 in the opener, which led to only eight Lasell points. Nineteen Laser turnovers fed directly into 22 Eastern points.
Eastern faces Muhlenberg College Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the opening round of the Westfield State University Tip-Off Tournament.