Women's basketball wins in dramatic fashion in overtime against Saint Joseph's


After having its five-game win streak snapped by Purdue on Tuesday, the Chippewas took on the Saint Joseph Hawks’s looking for a rebound win on Friday.

It appeared CMU was going to fall again after senior forward Jewel Cotton left the game with a knee injury in the third quarter and the Chippewas found themselves down 62-50 with 3:27 left in the fourth quarter. She didn't return as she lead CMU with 15 points at the time.

The team found a spark and went on a 7-0 run in the final two minutes to tie the game and tied it at 63 thanks to a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Presley Hudson with just two seconds in regulation. 

The team closed the fourth quarter on a 13-1 run to fight its way into an extra period.

In overtime it was more of the same back and fourth basketball, with multiple lead changes. With just 13.4 second remaining, CMU looked to the sophomore to lead them one more time. She did just that by hitting a game winning layup as the clock expired, leading CMU to a 73-71 overtime victory.

Hudson finished the game with a team high 20 points, while grabbing seven rebounds and and adding two assists. Junior guard Cassie Breen finished with 14 points with 4 boards and junior forward Tinara Moore finished with 11 points and six rebounds.

For Hudson, this wasn't her first time with the ball in the final seconds of a game, and now it’s something she said she looks forward to. 

“In those moments I want the ball in my hands because I want to be able to make that big play,” she said. “We just executed that last play and were able to get the score."

Moore said she believes that after all of the adversity her team faced in this game, it shows that they have no quit.

“We don't give up, we were down by twelve with not a lot of time left, and this team just didn't quit,” she said. “This team has a lot of heart and we just don’t ever give up.”

CMU shot just under 42 percent from the field while making seven 3-pointers. The Chippewas' also won the rebounding battle 43-32 and made just over 66 percent of their free throws.

Head Coach Sue Guevara said the team's effort during practice was a key reason why her team found a way to get the victory.

“In practice we run a drill where we are down by eight with just three minutes to go, so we've been in this situation before,” she said. “The press got us some turnovers and sped them up a bit, and we finally hit some shots.”

As for Cotton’s injury status, there has been no official word on what the injury was. She had ice wrapped around her knee and ankle on the sideline in the second half.

“You have to stay injury free if you want to win a championship, and right now we don’t know the injury status of Jewel (Cotton),” Guevara said. “We don’t play again until next week so it’s a good time for us to heal and them to really just be able to chill.”

After finals week, the Chippewas will host Illinois at 7 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 19. 

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