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Date Posted: 20:20:16 12/09/01 Sun
Author: Matt Barber
Author Host/IP: net206-164-036.xu.edu / 206.21.164.36
Subject: Xavier tops Toledo in 3 OT's

The Xavier women’s basketball team had never defeated Toledo in seven tries. On Sunday, it only took a school-record 108 points and 15 extra minutes for the Musketeers to get that monkey off their back.
XU moved its record to .500 (4-4) in topping the Rockets (3-4) 108-95 in the championship game of the Provident Bank Xavier University Invitational in the Cintas Center, and, for a team that has had problems finishing close games this season, took a big step forward.
“Obviously, this weekend was very character building,” said Xavier head coach Melanie Balcomb, whose Musketeers had just snapped a four-game skid the day before. “In one week, they came a long way.”
Forward Kate Kreager led all scorers with 27 points, but it was point guard Amy Waugh who did the clutch leading, tallying 15 of her 26 points in the overtime.
“She’s been trying to carry the team, to do too much,” said Balcomb. “Other players stepped up, and it let Amy just be herself.”
Freshman forward Alexis Henderson, after being fouled on her go-ahead lay-up with 21 seconds remaining in regulation, had a chance to give XU a three-point lead but could not finish the three-point play.
The Rockets then looked to get the ball in the hands of guard Courtney Risinger, their best shooter. Her 16-footer was off the mark, but forward Teresa Kahle was there for the game-tying put-back, and the contest moved into the first overtime, tied at 69.
At the start of the extra frame, the young Xavier team looked like it was beginning to tighten up while UT looked loose, scoring the first seven points of the overtime.
Then Waugh took over. She fired a three-pointer from two feet behind the arc at the top of the key that lit a fire under the Musketeers. The defense clamped down, stopped the Rockets, and moved the ball to guard Reetta Piipari, who drove to the hoop for a lay-up, putting the score at 76-74, Toledo.
Then guard Shavon Bell snagged the most important of her career-high five steals, taking the ball away from the UT point guard as she crossed the half-court line, and streaked all alone to the hoop for a game-tying lay-up with 52 seconds to go in the OT.
Toledo countered with two points and then fouled Waugh the next time down the court. Waugh missed the first free-throw, but hit the second, leaving Xavier back by one with less than 30 seconds to go.
Henderson immediately fouled UT’s Risinger on the inbounds pass, and Risinger only made one of her two free-throws.
Waugh drew a foul, and, this time, hit both of her shots to knot the game at 79 and send it into the second overtime.
Toledo and Xavier exchanged hoops to open the second OT, but a three from Waugh put XU up by one. A nifty inside basket by Kreager gave the Musketeers a three-point lead, but Toledo was far from finished.
A jumper from center Melantha Herron closed the gap to one for the Rockets, but it proved to be the final two of the team-high 24 points that Herron would score as she fouled-out moments later, putting Henderson at the line for XU with another chance to move the lead to three.
Henderson missed the first, but converted on the second free-throw, keeping the Musketeers ahead by two, 87-85. Henderson then fouled Toledo’s Tia Davis on the next possession, and Davis knocked down both free throws to again tie the contest.
Xavier ran its offense well on its next possession, and the ball found Kreager in the paint for a lay-up and the foul, but again, a missed free-throw kept XU from extending the lead past two.
A Toledo lay-up evened the score one more time at 89 with 33 seconds left in the second overtime, and Waugh’s foul on the shot gave the Rockets a chance to move ahead, but it was the visitor’s turn to miss a key free-throw.
The Musketeers had the whole shot clock to work for the final shot in the contest, and Waugh waited patiently at the top of the key for the clock to tick down. Then she drove the lane, hitting a go-ahead lay-up with just over five seconds remaining.
But it was just enough time for Toledo to inbound, call timeout and run a nifty give-and-go on the next inbound play that tied the game and sent it into a Xavier-record third overtime.
The 91-all tie was the fifteenth of the contest, but it would be its last. Running on fresh legs against a winded foe, XU put 11 unanswered points on the board to start the final overtime before UT responded with just two.
“We practice three hours a day, and it helps us,” said Waugh.
“We had to keep running, we knew they were tired,” added Henderson.
Toledo attempted to foul their way back into the contest, but the Musketeers were 8-8 from the free-throw line in the last overtime.
Numerous career-highs were set by Xavier in the 275 minutes of basketball the game lasted. Kreager’s 27 points, Waugh’s 26 and Henderson’s 19 were all new career marks for the respective players. The 11 rebounds Henderson pulled down were also a new career-high for the freshman who recorded her first double-double with the effort.
Kreager grabbed 10 rebounds for her fourth career double-double. Waugh dished eight assists to lead XU in that department, and Piipari was close behind with seven. Piipari tallied 17 points and Bell 18 to round out the five Musketeers scoring in double figures for the contest.
The Xavier bench only added one point in 34 minutes of play, but the trio of Ashleigh Cuncic, Colleen Yukes and Nikki Wells contributed quality minutes to give the starters, who played the entire 15 minutes of overtime, some well-deserved rest.
“I don’t think our bench hurt us,” said Balcomb. “We got good minutes from them, and, in the overtime, I just went with what was working.”
Herron’s 24 points and 11 boards led Toledo, and Risinger and Kahle added 19 and 16 points respectively to the Rockets’ cause.
Xavier used a 6-2 run at the close of the first half to take a 37-36 halftime lead into the locker room, but fell behind by as many as seven with just over 10 minutes to go in the second half before regaining and then losing a two-point lead in the last three minutes, setting the stage for the overtime bonanza.
Howard’s Andrea Gardner, St. Francis’s Sami Allison, Toledo’s Herron and Kreager from XU were named to the all-tournament team, and Xavier’s Waugh was tabbed as the tournament MVP.
SFU topped Howard 87-67 in the consolation game before the championship.

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