DENVER – Right off the heels of its hard-fought win on Friday, the Regis University women's basketball team surmounted a deep deficit in a contest that needed to be settled in overtime as the Rangers prevailed over Westminster College, 81-78, at Regis Field House on Saturday.
 
"It's incredible," said Regis University Head Women's Basketball Coach Molly Marrin. "It's still kind of surreal. [It's] our first overtime game of the year, so obviously, putting ourselves in different scenarios, our kids in that. Whitney played 45 minutes, you have T[ashika] play 45 minutes. I think we were down 15 in the third quarter and just chipped away and plugged into our team, and not officiating, nothing else, and I think our kids did that. [We] guarded a really outstanding, if not, the best offensive team in our league with multiple weapons and multiple all-league players and extremely well coached so I'm just proud that we didn't fold.
 
"We easily could've folded. We've spent a long season with COVID, and they didn't, and I think showing that leadership [with] T[ashika] and Whitney stepping up at 45 minutes and Erin Fry. Her nickname should be 'overtime' I think because she has shown glimpses of what she can do, and [I] challenged her to be more aggressive, and she did that tonight. So I think overall it was a great team win, the bench was awesome, and couldn't be happier so we're going to enjoy it for tonight. We've got practice in the morning."
 
How It Happened: Clinging to a 77-74 lead just 50 seconds into overtime, freshman guard Erin Fry hit a jumper to extend the Regis advantage to 79-74. This ultimately proved enough to secure the victory for RU.
 
Back-to-back layups by senior forward Sarah McGinley and redshirt junior guard Ashley Greenwood at the 3:43 and 2:49 marks of overtime, respectively, narrowed the Rangers' advantage. Greenwood's layup trimmed the Regis lead to 79-78.
 
Fortunately, a pair of insurance free throws by senior guard Tashika Burrell cushioned the lead back to three, 81-78, which was the final result.
 
However, a last-second launch past half-court by McGinley bounced off the front of the rim, nearly sending the game into a second overtime.
 
Senior forward Whitney Jacob put RU up first on the board, 2-0, just 13 seconds into the game.
 
Senior point guard Mariah Martin of Westminster tied the game, 5-5, on a jumper at the first quarter's 7:34 clock reading. This preceded the contest's first lead change when redshirt junior guard Abby Magnum's jumper put WC ahead, 7-5, with 6:09 left in the first.
 
The first quarter saw six lead changes and one tie in all. Though the Rangers led, 18-17, after 10 minutes of play, McGinley's layup at the 6-second mark was the first quarter's final bucket.
 
A trey by freshman guard Madison Diercks shot the Regis lead back to four, 21-17, to open the second with 9:30 to go.
 
However, WC went on a 6-0 run shortly after. This run started on Martin's game-tying pair of free throws at the 7:02 mark of the second and ended on McGinley's pair of free throws with 5:31 remaining in the second. McGinley's second free throw yielded the Griffins a 28-23 lead.
 
RU trailed by as many as 10 twice in the second quarter. The first of those instances occurred when Martin drilled a 3-pointer to give Westminster a 38-28 lead at the 2:20 mark of the second. The latter instance happened when redshirt junior forward Lyndzi Rich made a jumper, 40-30, with 1:38 to play before halftime.
 
The Rangers went into the break down seven, 42-35, when freshman forward Olivia Pitrof converted a layup at the 14-second mark of the second quarter.
 
A layup by WC senior forward Hunter Krebs opened the third quarter just 32 seconds in and grew the Regis deficit to nine, 44-35.
 
That deficit grew to as large as 15 when the Griffins capped a 7-0 run. The run kicked off on Magnum's layup at the 7:52 mark and was bookended by Magnum on a layup with 5:45 left in the third, with the latter basket giving Westminster a commanding 54-39 advantage.
 
However, RU took on the difficult task of dismantling WC's lead and closed out the third with an 8-0 run, which came to be on Jacob's free throw at the 2:33 mark and was capped after a 3-pointer by Diercks. The trey by Diercks moved the Rangers to within six, 61-55, at the 29-second mark of the third.
 
Rich's pair of free throws to start the fourth expanded the Regis deficit to 63-55 only 12 seconds into the final quarter.
 
Midway through the fourth, RU started a substantial momentum shift in its favor with an 8-0 run. Sophomore guard Morgan R. Smith's 3-pointer put the run into motion at the 7:02 mark, and the run ceased after Jacob's go-ahead jumper that made the score, 67-65, with 5:25 remaining in the fourth. Burrell tied the game, 65-65, during the run on a trey at the 6:09 mark.
 
The Griffins responded with a 7-0 run that started on Greenwood's fastbreak jumper with 3:45 to go in regulation to tie the game, 67-67. Greenwood also ended the run with another jumper at the 2:17 clock reading of the fourth to give Westminster a five-point, 72-67 lead.
 
The Rangers next nullified WC's run with its own 7-0 run that started on Jacob's three-point play with a jumper and free throw with 1:56 to play in the fourth and stopped after Jacob's go-ahead jumper, 74-72, at the 40-second mark. The second of two made free throws by Fry deadlocked the contest at 72-72 during the run with 1:18 left before regulation's final buzzer.
 
McGinley proceeded to make a layup at the 22-second mark of the fourth to tie the game at 74-74, where it stood as the time expired in regulation.
 
Emerging into overtime, Fry gave Regis a huge morale boost with her three-point play 20 seconds into the extra frame on a jumper and free throw. This eventual five-point run was concluded on Fry's aforementioned jumper at the 4:10 mark of overtime.
 
Game Notes: Jacob scored a team-high 19 points and had a game-high 16 rebounds, two assists, a game-high two blocks, and a share of the team-high one steal. Fry turned in a game of 13 points, one rebound, two assists, and a share of the team-high one steal. Burrell recorded 12 points, five rebounds, a team-high four assists, and a share of the team-high one steal. Diercks registered nine points, nine rebounds, and an assist. Six RU players had a share of the team-high one steal.
 
The Rangers finished the contest with a 27-for-71 (38.0 percent) effort from the paint, an 8-for-26 (30.8 percent) result from the arc, and a 19-for-22 (86.4 percent) outcome from the charity stripe. The Griffins successfully made 30 of 68 (44.1 percent) from the field, eight of 26 (30.8 percent) from the arc, and 10 of 12 (83.3 percent) from the free-throw line.
 
Up Next for the Rangers: Regis climbs to a 7-8 record overall and a 7-7 record in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) play. RU concludes its homestand and home games for the 2020-21 season on Senior Day/Night against Colorado Christian (3-12, 3-12 RMAC) at Regis Field House on Monday at 5 p.m.