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Lock Haven women hold off Mansfield in OT

LOCK HAVEN — With a chance at still making the postseason, the Lock Haven University women’s basketball team was facing a team that owned a victory over LHU earlier in the season.

Knowing they had to win out, the Lady Eagles went into their “refuse to lose” mode Wednesday night as they defeated Mansfield, 69-61, in overtime before a pink out crowd at Thomas Field House.

“They pulled another close one out and that was good to see,” said LHU coach Jennifer Smith. “I think they like to play overtime games and I am proud of them. I told them to look to score early in overtime and Maddy’s (Madison McHale) was big.”

The first quarter was a scoring battle between Lock Haven’s Kayla Henderson and Mansfield’s Tianna Jackson. At the end of the first, Jackson out shot Henderson, 13-10, to give the Lady Mounties a 21-12 lead.

Trailing by nine at the end of one, the Lady Eagles cut the deficit to four at halftime. Henderson, who scored her team’s first seven points of the game, kept her scoring rampage moving forward to total 17 points at the half.

The Lady Eagles battled back to a 31-all tie four minutes into the third quarter. Playing through three more ties and a couple of lead changes, the Lady Eagles took a two-point (42-40) lead at the end of three.

Trailing 42-46 with four minutes left, Mansfield scored six points to go up 48-46 before LHU tied the score at 48 on a bucket by Henderson.

“She really helped us offensively, getting us buckets when we needed them,” said Smith of Henderson. “I think she was capable of having 35 or 40 points tonight if she would have played at the level she is capable of. She passed up some opportunities (to score) but she kept us in it.”

Up by five in regulation, LHU couldn’t hold off Mansfield as it tied the score at 54 on a desperation shot by Bella Ricci with 1.7 seconds on the clock.

Henderson led all scorers in the game with 23 points. Lysa Mealing jad 13 and Madison McHale added 11.

“One thing about Madison is that she has the shooter’s mentality,” said Smith. “She can miss her first seven or eight shots and pick it up from there.

“Lysa has been under the weather recently, but she picked it up and played a solid game. For her it will be big for her to get some badly needed rest to be ready for Saturday’s game.”

For Mansfield, Jackson led the team with 22 points and Ricci had 10.

MANSFIELD (5-20, 3-18 PSAC)

Tianna Jackson 6-17 5-8 22; Bella Ricci 4-10 0-0 10; Brielle Kelly 3-7 3-4 9; Melanie Taylor 3-9 0-0 7; Mary Kate Rumbaugh 2-6 2-2 6; Alyssa Mullins 2-5 0-2 4; Morgan Westbrook 1-3 1-1 3. Totals 21-57 11-17 61.

LOCK HAVEN (10-15, 7-14PSAC)

Kayla Henderson 10-16 1-2 23; Lysa Mealing 3-11 7-8 13; Madison McHale 2-10 5-6 11; Maimuna Kenneh 4-6 1-2 9; Rileigh Devine 1-6 3-4 6; Emily James 2-4 0-0 5; A. Dombrowski 0-2 2-4 2; Ali Hillson 0-1 0-0 0; A. McGill-Jefferson 0-0 0-0 0; Becca Reilly 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 19-26 69.

Mansfield 21 9 10 14 7 — 61

Lock Haven 12 14 16 12 15 — 69

3-point goals: Mansfield 8-24 (Jackson 5-11; Ricci 2-6; Taylor 1-3; Mullins 0-1; Westbrook 0-1; Rumbaugh 0-2), LHU 6-19 (McHale 2-8, Henderson 2-3; James 1-2; Devine 1-5; Mealing 0-1). Fouled out: Mansfield-Jackson, Kelly; Lock Haven-Kenneh. Rebounds: Mansfield 35 (Mullins 13), LHU 36 (Kenneh 9). Assists: Mansfield 10 (Taylor 4), LHU 9 (Mealing 4). Total fouls: Mansfield 21, LHU 16. Technical fouls: Mansfield-none, LHU-none. A: 337.

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