Highlanders Grind Out 94-90 Overtime Win Against Utah State

Thursday, November 15

Riverside, CA

2:00 pm

UC Riverside

2-1

Utah State

0-2

Team	1	2	OT 1	F
Utah State	38	43	9	90
UC Riverside	51	30	13	94

Photo by: Gabriel L. Acosta

Highlanders Grind Out 94-90 Overtime Win Against Utah State

11/15/2012 4:43:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Box Score - UC Riverside 94, Utah State 90 (OT)

Watch the highlight video

Riverside, CA - Tre'Shonti Nottingham tied her career-high with 29 points while freshman Brittany Crain added 23 and Natasha Hadley had 18 as the UC Riverside Women's Basketball Team grinded out a 94-90 overtime win against visiting Utah State Thursday at the SRC Arena.

The Highlanders (2-1) took a 51-38 lead into halftime, but the Aggies (0-2) responded in the second period and tied the game at 81 to force overtime. In the extra stanza, Nottingham scored 10 of UCR's 13 points, including the last four free throws, to seal the win 94-90 win.

The 94 points are the most UCR has scored since they put up 100 against Sacramento State on December 28, 2001.

Utah State quickly jumped out to a 7-0 lead just 1:18 into the first half, and pushed its margin out to 17-3 at the 15:51 mark. The Highlanders scored seven straight to make it a 17-10 game, but the Aggies went up again by 13 points, 24-11, following a three-point play from Jenna Johnson with 13:37 to go in the half.

The Highlanders continued to push, and outscored USU 17-4 over the next eight minutes to take a 37-28 lead. The teams traded points until UC Riverside scored the final five points of the half to take a 51-38 lead into the break.

UCR went up by as much as 17, 58-41, early in the second period, but the Aggies cut it to single-digits, 60-52, with just under 16 minutes remaining.

The teams battled back and forth with the lead staying above five points until the 3:06 mark, when four consecutive free throws by Devyn Christensen pulled Utah State within one, 79-78.

A layup by Kiara Harewood put the Highlanders up three, 81-78, but Franny Vaaulu's three-pointer with 16 seconds on the clock tied the game at 81.

UCR's last-second attempt fell short as the game headed into overtime.

Utah State scored the first bucket of the extra period, but back-to-back three-pointers from Nottingham extended the Highlanders lead to 87-83. After trading points, a three-pointer from Cristal Turner with 44 seconds remaining tied the game at 90.

After whittling down the clock, Nottingham was fouled with 15 seconds to go, and knocked down both free throws to make it a 92-90 ball game. On Utah State's next possesion, Johnson turned the ball over with eight ticks left, and Nottingham was fouled on the ensuing inbound, hitting both free throws to seal the 94-90 win.

For the game, Nottingham went 8-of-21 from the field including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and 9-of-10 from the foul line. Crain hit 10-of-19 from the field for her career-high 23 points, while Hadley added a career-high 15 rebounds to go along with her 18 points.

UC Riverside shots 41.8 percent for the game, while Utah State connected on 39.0 percent of its shots.

Next up for the Highlanders is a road contest at CSU Bakersfield on Sunday, November 18 beginning at 4 pm PT in Bakersfield, CA.