Lady Pioneers Win On Homecoming In Double Overtime Thriller

Lady Pioneers Win On Homecoming In Double Overtime Thriller-Wil Teague, Sports Information Director, 2-18-23

Crowley's Ridge- 85

Arkansas Baptist- 73

Crowley's Ridge College Lady Pioneers hosted Arkansas Baptist this afternoon for their last regular season matchup before heading to Lawrence, Kansas for the CAC tournament where they will rematch the Buffaloes in the opening round on Friday, February 24th. The Pioneers intertwined two big events for the last game, CRC's Homecoming and senior recognition night. The Lady Pioneers did not disappoint as they finished the regular season with a bang in a double overtime win to end the regular season on a 6-game win streak, sending the seniors off with one last home victory. The Lady Pioneers increase their record year with another victory giving them the best regular season record the school has ever seen (18-9).

Paragould, Ark.-  Travia Woodruff would start the game by dishing two assists allowing Mickayla Smith and Octavia Lowery to knock down back-to-back three-pointers getting the Pioneers on the board. The CRC defense held the Buffaloes to just 10 points as they took a 7-point lead into the second quarter with a score of 17-10. Quarter two wouldn't go in favor of the Pioneers as they hit a 4-minute scoring drought while the Buffaloes went on an 8-0 run retaking the lead 18-17 with 6:24 left before the break. CRC called a full timeout to get a grip on the chaos, and in the next possession, Hunter Gibson broke the silence for the Pioneers with a layup. The Buffaloes would still be a handful this quarter as they edged towards leading the Pioneers going into the break until once again like many times this season, Octavia Lowery took charge. Lowery bucketed 6 points in the last 2 minutes with Serriah Floyd adding a three-ball in the mix to give the Pioneers a 4 point lead, 30-26 at the intermission. CRC increased their lead in the third by Brinley Morgan draining two threes on back-to-back drives down the court and Serriah Floyd adding her 5-point solo run helping the Pioneers take a 41-32 lead at the 7:06 mark in the quarter. The Pioneers would finally take a double-digit 48-38 lead at 2:10 in the third with Lindsey Browning banking in 2 layups. Arkansas Baptist pushed out the CRC offense in the remainder of the quarter by scoring 2 buckets making it a 48-42 CRC lead. As the game dwindled in the fourth quarter the Buffaloes rallied a huge push in the last minute, and a half with a 5-point run to tie the game 64-64 leaving time for one last CRC possession. The Pioneers would be unsuccessful in the attempt and so for the first time this season, they would head to overtime. In OT, the Buffaloes struck first with a drive to the basket making the layup and drawing a Pioneer foul in the process. The Buffaloes completed the three-point play and took the lead with 3:37 left. CRC stood tall as Hunter Gibson tied the game with three and Octavia Lowrery retook the lead for the Pioneers 69-67 by sinking two shots from the charity stripe with just over a minute left.  All things looked to be in the clear as the clock changed to seconds but the Buffaloes once more scrapped a bucket in the paint after a scramble for the rebound broke out. As the precious remaining seconds of OT disappeared neither team broke the tie and before you knew it, they were heading to the second overtime. The officials reset the game clock to  5 minutes once more and away they went. The second OT went much like the first, as each team would answer bucket for bucket until Brinley Morgan became the catalyst CRC needed. With the Pioneers trailing two, and the shot clock about to expire, Morgan pulled a deep three with 2:27 left in the contest. Morgan muscled the shot through an Arkansas Baptist defender making the shot and drawing the foul.  Morgan would sink her shot from the free throw line completing the 4-point play and giving CRC the lead for the rest of the game. The next 2:37 seconds would be nothing but CRC buckets and steals as the Lady Pioneers pieced together their biggest run of the game, 12-0. Crowley's Ridge ended the game with the final score of 85-73 winning double OT in fashion. 

Leaders:

Octavia Lowery led the Pioneers with a double-double performance of 26 points and 10 rebounds. Hunter Gibson also reached double-double stats with 10 points and 13 rebounds. Brinley Morgan added 17 points and 4 rebounds in the contest. 

Up Next:

WBB takes on Arkansas Baptist in the CAC tournament in Lawrence, Kansas on February, 24th.