Terre Haute, Ind. ? The Indiana State Sycamores fought their way back from a 15-point deficit against Arkansas State and saw the game go into overtime on a last second three-point Red Wolf buzzer beater, but could not capitalize in the overtime period as they lost 76-68 on the Nellie & John Wooden Court at Hulman Center.

 

Indiana State falls to 2-3 on the season while ASU improved to 5-3.

 

“Those games, it feels like someone just punched you in the stomach," head coach Jim Wiedie said. "You really feel bad for your team, you see the look on their face in the locker room; and the tears. As a coach you've been in enough games like that, that you're not happy, but you feel more for your kids than anything. I thought our kids did a heck of a job battling in the second half, they competed."

 

Freshman Deja Mattox scored the first two buckets of the game for the Sycamores and assisted on the third.  Mattox hit a short jumper in the paint for the first points of the game and nailed a three-point basket from the left wing to give the Sycamores a 5-2 lead about three minutes into the first half.  After the Red Wolves got two points from Brittney Hiles on a jumper outside of the lane, Mattox penetrated near the top of the lane and found Kelsie Cooley under the basket who laid the ball in for a 7-4 Sycamore advantage with 16:32 showing on the clock.

 

After Mattox went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line, the Red Wolves went on a 13-0 run in under four minutes.  Back-to-back three-point baskets by Caroline Starr put the visitors up 12-8 for their first lead of the game.  A few free-throws, a Veronica Smith layup, and a Lyndsay Schlup jumper gave the Red Wolves their largest lead of the game thus far at 19-8 with just under eleven minutes remaining in the half.

 

The Sycamores began to chip away at their 11-point deficit, scoring seven straight.  Kelsey Luna nailed a three-pointer and Kara Schilli and Cooley added baskets of their own to pull within four. 

 

Arkansas State's Elyseia Dunn converted a layup at 8:24 but two free-throw baskets by Shannon Thomas and a Leah Phillips layup brought the Sycamores within two at 19-21.  About 25 seconds later, the game was tied at 21-all on a Bianca Jarrett jumper.

 

The Sycamores saw their valiant comeback fade away beginning with just six minutes remaining in the first half.  The visitors went on a 12-point tear to go up 38-24 on the Sycamores, a fifteen point lead.  The Sycamores scored five points in the remaining two minutes and 17 seconds with free-throw baskets by Cooley and a three-point bucket by Jarrett.  Unfortunately, the Red Wolves matched those five points on a Dunn layup and a Smith three-pointer to go into half with a 43-28 lead.

 

Starr led all scorers with 15 first-half points, going 5-for-7 from behind the arc.  The Red Wolves received 29 points from their bench, compared to nine for the Sycamores.  Jarrett paced the Sycamores in the first half with seven points, followed by Mattox and Cooley who added six each.

 

The second half began and buckets were traded back-and-forth for both teams until about four minutes in when the Sycamores scored four straight on buckets by Thomas and two free-throws from Mattox.

 

The Red Wolves then scored four straight points of their own on back-to-back jumpers from Ebonie Jefferson and Schlup putting the score at 50-36 with 13 minutes remaining in the game.

 

And then the Sycamores tried to duplicate what they did in the first half ? come back from being down by a respectable margin. Eight straight points by the Sycamores that included three consecutive layups by Schilli, Phillips, and Thomas, brought the team within six at 50-44 with 10:25 remaining.

 

Jefferson tried to keep her team in the lead with a layup and two free-throws, but the Sycamore squad was too much to handle.

 

Luna added a three-pointer, followed by a Mattox layup, and a 2-for-2 showing at the free-throw line by Cooley to pull within three points.  With 6:40 remaining, Cooley added two more points with a layup and then Phillips gave her team their first lead, 56-54, since the beginning of the first half when she drained a three-point bucket to ignite the Hulman Center crowd.

 

Buckets were again exchanged between both teams until the clock showed one minute remaining with the score even at 60-60. 

 

Schilli was fouled on back-to-back Sycamore possessions and went 2-for-4 at the free-throw line to put the home team up by two points, 62-60.  Luna took her turn at the line next and went 1-for-2 putting the Sycamores up by three with just under five seconds remaining in the game.

 

“The second half, we had rally had no choice but to get back into it," Mattox said. "Because we were down, and you can't go down like that at home. So, we just had to suck it up and get after them and we realized that we could drive and get to the free throw line and execute that as opposed to shooting threes, which we were a little off tonight.”

 

It appeared as if the Sycamores would pull off the improbable come-from-behind victory, but a buzzer beating 21-foot three-point basket by Shania Hurst, who before that basket had zero points, sent the game into overtime tied at 63-63.

 

"Unfortunately, I didn't think our energy was where it needed to be in the first half, we weren't as active as we needed to be," Wiedie commented. "And unfortunately, we dug ourselves a pretty good size hole early on. But we battled back and put ourselves in position, and that's all you could ask for. Made some adjustments at halftime, and the kids went out and did a great job of executing and held that team to 20 points in the second half and it took a three pointer with whatever time left to get them to 20.” 

 

To begin the five-minute overtime period, Hurst knocked down a short jumper in the lane to give the Red Wolves a 65-63 lead.  Shortly after, Cooley tied the ballgame up 65-65 when she drove to the basket and converted a layup at 3:44. 

 

The Sycamores nearly went up by two when Luna found Cooley under the basket but a missed layup led to a Red Wolf bucket by Hiles to put the score at 67-65 in favor of the visitors.

 

The Red Wolves went on to score eight straight points and a total of 13 in the overtime period compared to just five for the Sycamores as they stole a 76-68 victory from Indiana State.

 

“I feel grateful to get out of here with a win," Arkansas State head coach Brian Boyer said. "As I told our players, these type of games don't come around very often in their career. To hit a shot like that to send the thing to overtime, you could certainly see the momentum shift once we got in the overtime.”

 

Mattox lead the Sycamores with 14 total points, four rebounds, and three assists.  Cooley also had a solid double-double performance as she contributed 12 points and ten rebounds.  Phillips and Luna also combined for 23 points.

 

The visiting Red Wolves received 18 points from Starr, 12 from Jefferson, and 11 from Smith.  Over half (42) of the Red Wolves 76 points came from their bench.

 

The women's hoops team will not return back to the Hulman Center until Friday, December 19, when they host Eastern Illinois University.  They will head to New Orleans this upcoming weekend to take part in the Big Easy Classic playing games against New Orleans and Tulane.  The following weekend, December 13, the Sycamores face off against Ball State in Muncie, Ind., for a 7:00 p.m showdown.