Senior Day Thriller

TAHLEQUAH, Okla. (Feb. 28) --- On a day set aside to honor its senior student-athletes, it was two Northeastern State (OK) freshmen and a sophomore that stole the show. Then again,there was the sole senior who made an unselfish decision that affected the final outcome.

Cristy Nitz, Alix Perkins and Jasmine Webb combined to score 56 points to lead the RiverHawks to a seemingly improbable and thrilling 88-80 overtime win over visiting Texas A&M-Commerce at Dobbins Field House Saturday afternoon. Northeastern State, who enters next week's Lone Star Conference Tournament as the North Division's No. 4 seed, improved to 16-11 overall and 8-6 in league play. A&M-Commerce, the No. 3 seed, fell to 17-10 and 9-5.

Down 69-66 with :30 to go, lone senior, Lindsey Sams, drove to the basket, got the layup to fall and went to the line with a chance to tie the game. Sams misfired on the charity toss and pick up her fifth foul with :12 left in regulation. It ended up being the turning point of the contest. Sams left the game with eight points, three assists and four steals.

"One of the reasons our freshmen have been playing as well as they have is because of Lindsey's leadership," said head coach Randy Gipson. "She is a true leader."

Clinging to a one point lead, 69-68, Lions' standout Britney Jordan made the first free throw and missed the second. Following the miss, Perkins grabbed the rebound, went coast-to-coast, missed a layup, but Webb grabbed the offensive carom and put in the easy followup to tie the game at 70-all and force the extra session.

In overtime, it was all Northeastern State as it made all six of its field goal attempts and was six-of-nine from the stripe. A Webb bucket and back-to-back layups from Nitz on the first three possessions put the RiverHawks in front for good at 76-70. TAMU-Commerce got no closer than four, 76-72, before Northeastern State countered to eventually take an 88-79 cushion with :19 to go.

Jordan, who leads every college division in scoring, poured through a game-high 42 points.

Perkins scored the first eight points of the game for the RiverHawks and the lead ballooned to 16-4 just 6:30 into the contest. However, the Lions caught fire and used a 14-2 spurt to pull back to 18-16 a the midway point of the frame. Perkins, who scored 14 of her team-high 21 in the first half, helped Northeastern State construct a 37-24 margin with two minutes left before AMC closed the game to 43-33 at intermission.

The Lions opened the second half with a 15-0 flurry to pull ahead, 48-43, with just over 15 minutes left in regulation. Northeastern State, which tied the game at 56-all and led just once in the final frame, 58-57 on a Nitz layup, eventually fell behind by as many as seven points before pulling off the heroics in the final minute to send the game into OT.

Nitz had 20 points on nine-of-10 shooting from the floor, while Webb recorded a double-double with 15 points and 15 rebounds.

Northeastern State will enter the LSC Tourney on Wednesday riding a two-game winning streak when it meets nationally-ranked West Texas A&M, the No. 1 seed from the south, at 2:30 p.m. at Bruin Fieldhouse in Bartlesville.