After getting game-tying three-pointers at the end of two overtime periods, the Muhlenberg women's basketball team finally ran out dramatics and lost at Dickinson, 74-71, in a rematch of a 2016 Centennial Conference semifinal game.
The triple-overtime game was the first in program history. Junior
Brandi Vallely played all but 15 seconds of the 55 minutes and scored a game-high 26 points. Sophomore
Sara Dilly recorded her first career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and juniors
Christina Manning (11 points) and
Chelsea Gary (10) also scored in double figures.
The Mules (4-2, 2-1) played from behind for almost the entire game and faced their biggest deficit (eight points) at the start of the fourth quarter. They held the Red Devils (5-1, 2-0) to one field goal over the first eight minutes of the final period, however, and took their first lead at 43-41 on a jumper by Vallely with 3:58 left. Dickinson came back to tie the game at 48 with 1:20 on the clock, and the teams went into the first overtime still tied.
Muhlenberg trailed by four points, 57-53, with 27.2 seconds to play, but a pair of three-pointers - one by freshman
Emilie Benton with 14.9 ticks on the clock and one by Manning
(pictured above) with 4.3 to play - sandwiched around two Red Devils free throws sent the game into a second extra period, tied at 59.
Dickinson hit two free throws with 3.7 seconds left to open up a 64-61 lead in the second overtime before Vallely knocked down a three from the wing with just eight-tenths of a second showing.
Freshman
Emily O'Mahoney made a three-pointer to put the Mules ahead 69-66 at the start of the third overtime. Vallely's layup with 2:04 left made it 71-67, but Muhlenberg was held scoreless the rest of the way.
The Mules held the Devils to 27.3-percent shooting but were outscored 28-3 at the foul line.
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