HOUGHTON, N.Y. – The Hilbert College women's basketball team continues to show a lot of heart this young season as they battled to a 71-69 triple overtime loss at Houghton College last night.  The Hawks fell to 1-1 the first week of the season while Houghton won their season-opener in thrilling fashion.

Three Hawks notched double-digit scoring led by Shannon Rogers' second double-double of the season.  The sophomore posted 15 points, 12 rebounds (two blocks) while fellow sophomore Kelsi Ebert added 14 points and two steals.  First-year Katelyn Proy added 11 points, 12 rebounds and key blocks down the stretch to force overtime.

After all three post-players fouled out in overtime, senior Wyann Jackson came in and gave the Hawks a spark.  She connected on 2 of 3 shots and grabbed three rebounds in six minutes of action.

The Highlanders ultimately secured the victory with full court defense and hitting key shots late in the evening.

Statistically, the game was so evenly matched, it is not surprising it went so long.  Houghton scored only one more point off Hilbert turnovers (13-12) and scored four more points off second chance points (14-10).  Hilbert's bench outscored Houghton's by four (13-9) and had four more points in the paint than the Highlanders (30-26).  Both teams finished the 55-minute game with 10 lead changes 'gained by' stat.

Each team scored 22 buckets and 22 foul shots.  The final stat which impacted the score was Houghton knocked down five 3-point shots while Hilbert hit only three. 

Houghton held a 10-4 lead as both teams started the second quarter. Hilbert responded by outscoring the hosts 12-8 during the second 10-minutes.  Emily Speidel led the Hawks with six points (two 3-pointers) and Rogers and Lindsay O'Neil chipped in four points each.  Both teams went to the foul line just twice and knocked all shots down and Speidel was the only player on either team to connect from beyond the arc by intermission.

Hilbert, trailing 18-16 at the break, evened the score by the end of the third quarter with a 16 point effort.  Proy contributed six points and Kelsi Ebert added four to set a 32-32 score.

The fourth quarter saw both teams matching the other's offensive effort.  Neither team led by more than two points at any time. With over one minute to go in the 4th, Rogers gave Hilbert a 49-47 lead.  20-seconds later, Houghton scored in the paint at 0:56. Hilbert had two looks at the rim the rest of the way and closed the game with three huge blocks to force overtime.  Rogers' block at 0:21 lead into Hilbert's offensive transition which came up empty.  Proy saved the game with back-to-back blocks (0:05, 0:02) which forced overtime.

In the first 5-minute overtime, neither team gained any traction. Houghton led (54-53) with 0:03 on the clock, Rogers was at the line for two free throws.  She made the second and sent the Hawk fans into a frenzy forcing a second OT period.

Samantha Heiler got the Hawks on the board first after almost two minutes of action.  Her two freebies lifted the score 56-54.  Ebert then made a trip to the foul line and added two more points at 2:33.  Things looked great for Hilbert after Ebert scored a lay-up (60-54) with 1:12 on the clock.  But Houghton walked to the charity stripe, calming sank both and then on their next trip back on offense, shocked everyone in the gym with a made three-point shot.   Heiler padded the lead back to 61-59 for the Hawks but suffered through Houghton's six upcoming free throw attempts. Thankfully for Hilbert, Houghton only made two and play continued into the third OT (61-61).

Houghton found four of their quickest points in overtime and held a 65-61 lead at 4:37.  Heiler and Houghton traded a pair of free throws before Heiler hit a jumper at 3:48 to cut the difference to two (67-65).  Speidel drove the paint and dumped the ball to Jackson who knotted the game for the last time.  Houghton extended their defense from baseline to baseline and forced panicky possessions for the Hawks.  But Jackson made a great jab-step fake, penetration into the paint for a short jumper to give Hilbert a 69-68 lead with over a minute and a half remaining. Houghton scored their last bucket on a lob pass over the defense into the paint and padded their one-point lead with a free throw almost one minute later.  Hilbert's desperation full court to the rim drive fell short at the buzzer.

The women's basketball team returns to action this Thursday when they travel down Route 90 for a 5:30 pm game at Cazenovia College.