Lady Roaring Lions down Greater Allegheny in overtime thriller

McKEESPORT, Pa. – There are close games and there are nail biters. Fayette's thrilling 89-88 overtime victory over Penn State Greater Allegheny on Tuesday night definitely falls into the nail biter category.

Just how close was it? Overall for the game there were 17 ties and 14 lead changes. 

In the early part of the first half, the teams traded baskets until Aaquila Youngblood's layup with 11 minutes to go ignited a 16-5 run for Greater Allegheny. When Shacobia Horn hit a jumper with 5:24 left in the period, the Lady Lions held a 38-28 lead, which would be the largest lead of the game for either team.  

Fayette (3-4, 2-0 PSUAC) answered back with an 18-6 run to close the half. The run started with a layup by Jill Guthrie (Uniontown, Pa.) and by the time Caitlin Wontroba (Uniontown, Pa.) hit a pair of free throws with a second left, the Lady Roaring Lions were up 46-44 at the break.

The half saw eight lead changes and six ties.

Christina Floyd hit a layup to begin the second half and the lead see-sawed back and forth for most of the half. Fayette took an eight-point lead with 11:22 left on a Wontroba jumper. Greater Allegheny then had a 10-2 run to tie the game at 68 with just under eight minutes to play.

From there, neither team would hold more than a three-point lead the rest of the way.  Wontroba's free throw with seven seconds to play gave Fayette a 79-78 lead.

Tra-Esha Carswell hit a pair of free throws with 0.4 seconds left on the clock to send the game into overtime.

The extra session was much like the first and second halves. The score was tied four times and the lead changed hands twice and no lead was more than three points.

Tara Neely (Morgantown, W.Va.) broke an 86-86 tie with a pair of free throws with 55 seconds to play and Wontroba's free throw with 11 seconds left gave Fayette a three-point lead. Shacobia Horn's layup with one second left closed the out the scoring.

The Lady Roaring Lions had five players in double figures, led by Wontroba  who scored 25 points and dished out eight assists and had a pair of steals.

Both Kaitlin Miller (Bald Eagle, Pa.) and Guthrie notched double-doubles. Miller poured in 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while Guthrie scored 15 and grabbed 11 rebounds. Neely had 13 and added a pair of steals while Shannon Flament (Charleroi, Pa.) scored 12 to go with six rebounds.

Courtney Haines (McClellantown, Pa.) grabbed four rebounds and had four steals.

Greater Allegheny's Christina Floyd led all scorers with 34 and grabbed 23 rebounds. Taylor Fulton scored 17 while dishing out 15 assists to go with four steals.

Fayette returns to action on Saturday when the Lady Roaring Lions travel to Lehigh Valley. Tip-off is 6 p.m.