FROSTBURG, Md. -- The 22nd-ranked Fairmont State University women's basketball hit the road for the regular season finale against Frostburg State University. The Falcons were able to battle through overtime to defeat the Bobcats, 92-82.
Leslie Huffman led the Falcons with 27 points as she was 8-13 from the field and 6-9 from three-point land.
Jalen Gibbs added 14 points with eight rebounds.
From the onset of the game, the two teams battled back-and-forth. Midway through the period,
Aaliyah Brunny hit a three before
Gabby Reep laid one in to give Fairmont State (24-4, 17-3) a 15-11 lead. Frostburg State (18-10, 12-8) amounted a small run and took a 20-17 advantage. After a bit of jockeying, the hosts held a slim two-point lead (24-22) going to the second.
The Falcons quickly reclaimed the lead in the second thanks to a
Zaniya Murray layup and a three by
Leslie Huffman. The early baskets were part of a 10-2 run for the visitors to garner a 32-26 advantage. The Bobcats slowly chipped away at the difference and following a 9-0 stretch, were back in front by four (40-36) with 3:22 left in the half. Fairmont State responded with the next five points but a late layup by the hosts gave them a 42-41 lead at the break.
Just like the first two periods, the two were evenly matched before the Falcons scored 14-straight points including three makes beyond the arc by
Leila Jones. Leading by double digits, the visitors were able to hold course and led 66-53 going to the fourth.
However, in the fourth period, Frostburg State came out firing and dropped seven-consecutives to quickly make the score 66-60. Fairmont State kept possession of the advantage until the final minutes where the hosts went on an 8-0 run to lead 79-77 with just six seconds remaining. The Falcons called a timeout to draw up one final play. As the play progressed,
Madeline Huffman found her sister, Leslie for the layup to send the game into overtime.
Tied at 79, the Bobcats scored the first point of the extra period before
Alyssa DeAngelo led the Falcons to nine-straight points with four of them coming from the graduate guard. Once the visitors took the advantage, they never looked back as they won by the 10-point difference.
Fairmont State will be the number-one seed in the MEC Tournament and will await to see who it will face on Thursday, March 6 from WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, West Virginia.
