Bison drop double-overtime thriller to W&J, 89-86

Steve Janik, Assistant Sports Information Director

BETHANY, W.Va. (Feb. 11) - The Bethany College women's basketball team dropped a thrilling double-overtime Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) matchup 89-86 to Washington and Jefferson on Saturday.

With the loss, Bethany falls to 11-12 (9-7, PAC), while W&J improves to 16-7 (13-3, PAC).

Senior Hayley Holenka (Shadyside, Ohio/Shadyside) shot 8-of-17 from beyond-the-arc en route to dropped 35 points to go with six assists and five rebounds. Sammie Weiss (Avella, Pa./McGuffey) added 25 points and 10 words while Kelsea Daugherty (Newport, Ohio/Frontier) continued her strong play with another double-double, dropping 10 points to go with 11 rebounds. Ashley Duthie (Madison, Ohio/Madison) tallied eight points to go with five assists.

With 1:22 left in the fourth quarter, the game was knotted at 60. Holenka then converted two foul shots, setting a pace for the remaindr of the game. After a W&J basket, the Bison added three more foul shots to take the 65-62 lead with 14 seconds remaining. 

After the teams traded one foul shot a piece, there were eight seconds remaining in regulation. The Presidents had possession of the ball and before the buzzer got off a long three-point attempt but a foul was committed, granting the visitors three foul shots. All three were converted to send the game to overtime with a score of 66-66. 

Daugherty got the first basket of OT with a layup but W&J had the quick answer with a trey less than a minute later. After two free throws from Weiss, the Bison were behind 71-70. Then an Duthie jumper gave Bethany the lead at 72-71 with 2:01 left in the first overtime. 

Over the next 30 seconds, the teams traded the lead down to the 13 second mark. Holenka converted a free throw to make the score 76-75 in favor of W&J. The Presidents' Rachel Bellhy hit two foul shots to increase their lead to three with just under 10 seconds remaining. As Bethany brought the ball up-court, they got it to Holenka who sunk a deep three with a hand in her face for tie it at 78 and force a second overtime period.

To start the final overtime period, the first six combined points scored were from the charity stripe. With 2:47 left in the game, the score was tied at 81. Throughout the next minute and 30 seconds, W&J worked their lead up to four with 1:11 left to play. Bethany found themselves back within one before the Presidents were able to pickup two late foul shots and seal the conference win.

The Bison held the rebounding 50-to-33 rebounding advantage, while W&J shot 44 percent from the field to Bethany's 35.9 percent. From the charity stripe, Bethany converted 31-of-43, while Washington and Jefferson finished 27-of-34 from the line.

In the second quarter, the visitors found themselves with a five point lead after a trey at the 7:03 mark. Over the next three minutes Bethany worked to a tie at 21 apiece before another Holenka three-pointer gave the Bison the lead, which they held in the final first-half minutes. The Bison increased their lead to six from the foul-line but a President jumper before the halftime buzzer sent the Bison into the locker room with the 29-25 lead. 

Next up, Bethany travels to Chatham on Wednesday, February 15 in their final regular season road game with tip-off set for 5 p.m.