Clutch buckets from
Linzy Roberson and
Keira Dougherty propelled the Muhlenberg women's basketball team to a thrilling 80-78 win over the visiting Penn State Abington Nittany Lions in overtime.
Freshman
Keira Dougherty, in her first collegiate contest, put the hosts in front for good with a driving right-hand layup over a defender with six seconds remaining that sent the crowd into a frenzy. On the ensuing Nittany Lion possession, they drove into the paint only to be stopped by the outstretched arms of graduate student
Avery McNulty. The rebound dribbled out of bounds with no time remaining, securing the first win of first-year head coach
Sadie Nelson's career.
None of that would have been possible if not for the work of Roberson
(pictured) on the final possession of regulation. With eight seconds remaining and the Mules down two, the sophomore guard drove from the left wing past a pair of defenders and laid it in off glass for the tying score. That sent the crowd into a frenzy, and the game into overtime.
The Mules had to climb out of an early hole to have that chance to equalize late in the contest. PSU-Abington started off hot, going up by as many as 14 during the first quarter. After that, the Mules tightened up, beginning with a McNulty three-pointer to open the second quarter. PSU-Abington threw some zone at Muhlenberg in the second as well, but the Mules deftly navigated that with crisp passes and made jumpers en route to cutting the deficit to three at halftime.
All five Mule starters reached double figures, but it was Dougherty who led the way with 24 points; 14 of those points came in the fourth quarter or overtime.
Veronica Dawson cut a four-point deficit to two on a layup with 43 seconds to go in overtime, and the junior finished with 18 points on 50% from the field. Eight of those points came in the span of a minute in the third quarter, when Dawson drained a mid-range jumper and back-to-back threes to give the Mules their first lead in nearly 20 minutes of game time.
Lyndsey Costigan had 13 points while Roberson and McNulty each had 11 to round out the starting five.
Dawson anchored the defense with a career-high six blocks to go with a team-high nine rebounds. That doubles her previous career-best of three, set multiple times over the previous two seasons. Dougherty and Roberson had three and two steals apiece; that duo (along with
Maggie Burns, who had a pair of thefts as well) spent the evening reading and jumping passing lanes.
