Women's Basketball Remains Undefeated With OT Victory

OSWEGO, N.Y. – The Wells College women's basketball team picked up a 71-68 overtime victory over the Lakers from Oswego State University on Friday to open the Max Ziel Tournament. Wells is off to its best start in team history, moving to 3-0 overall, while Oswego State remains in search of its first win in two contests.

Led by 20-point games by senior Holli Erkson (Cooperstown, N.Y.) and junior Ashida Cooper (Bensalem, Pa.), Wells was able to pick up its first overtime victory since Feb. 13, 2011 after playing in the team's first overtime game dating back to Feb. 10, 2013. Freshman Carley Ryan (Middleburgh, Pa.) recorded the first double-double of her career, picking up 11 points while hauling in as many rebounds.

Cooper led the team with five steals while tying with Erkson for the team-high in assists with three. Sophomore Kamarie Maturine (Brooklyn, N.Y.) pulled down nine rebounds while freshman Shelby Medovich (Harpursville, N.Y.) chipped in with 10 points. Collectively, Wells shot 30.7% from the floor (27-for-88) after taking the third-most shots in team history, but outrebounded the Lakers (58-to-55) and committed fewer turnovers (24-to-16).

With 21 seconds left in the first overtime period, a dramatic three-point basket by Oswego State's Courtney Ameele from the corner knotted the score at 68. Wells, however, took the lead for good after Erkson was fouled in the lane. She potted a free throw and her team later saw back-to-back free throw makes by Medovich with one second left on the scoreboard to put the game away.

Wells captured its first lead of the game, using a Ryan layup with 4:24 left in the first quarter to go ahead by a 10-9 margin. Oswego State took the lead right back and went to build two separate eight-point leads, the first with 5:17 left in the second quarter and the last with 3:21 left in the third quarter.

Down 45-39 at that time, Wells went on an 8-0 scoring run to tie the game at 45 with 37 seconds left in regulation. Cooper scored six of her team's points during that stretch, scoring off a jumper and pouring home two layups. A jumper by Ryan also helped the Express during the impressive comeback.

Oswego State was led by Zana Dillard and her impressive double-double, tallying 11 points while collecting a dominant 24 rebounds. Ameele scored 25 points after a 9-for-24 performance from the floor while Mary Mazzella scored 13 points and assisted five baskets for the Lakers, leading the team in that category.

Wells has qualified for the championship game of the Max Ziel Tournament and will take on Houghton at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21. Houghton edged Alvernia University by a 56-50 score earlier in the day on Friday.