SEGUIN, Texas – The Southwestern University Pirates women's basketball team dropped a double overtime thriller to Hardin-Simmons University (HSU) on Sunday, losing 87-86.
Taylor Gaffney scored eight of her game-high 25 points in the second overtime, hitting three free throws in the final 10 seconds to give HSU the one-point victory.
Zhazze Brown led four Pirates in double figures, scoring 22 points on 7-for-13 shooting, showing her touch from long range by hitting 4-for-7 from behind the 3-point line and dishing out four assists. Cecily Woolfolk was a nice counterbalance inside, posting her third straight double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds and also contributing four assists, three blocks, and two steals.
The Pirates moved the ball, assisting on 20 of their 29 made field goal attempts. Unfortunately, they also struggled with ball security, turning it over 29 times.
Hardin-Simmons got off to a strong start, putting together a 19-12 first quarter lead with Gaffney scoring six points, hitting all three of her shot attempts. The Pirates responded with a scorching 28-point second quarter, shooting 9-for-20 from the field and 8-for-10 from the free-throw line with Brown leading the way with eight points and the frontcourt of Kelsey Faykus and Woolfolk scoring a combined 14 points with each shooting 2-for-3 from the field and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line in the quarter.
The Pirates struggled in the fourth quarter, scoring just six points on 2-for-9 shooting with eight turnovers to allow HSU to send the game into overtime. Southwestern University opened up an 84-79 lead in the second overtime on a Chloe Drum made free throw with 31 seconds remaining.
Gaffney answered with a 3-pointer and layup to close the gap to 86-84 after a pair of Faykus free throws. The Pirates surrendered an offensive rebound, sending Gaffney to the free-throw line. After making the first attempt, Gaffney missed the second.
Karlea Ritchie grabbed another HSU offensive rebound, setting up another pair of free throws for Gaffney to give HSU the victory.
A'breanna Harrison had 14 points and four rebounds for HSU and Ryan Bush scored 14 points of the bench. Faykus scored 18 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Pirates and Courtney Maass contributed 10 points and three assists.
With the loss, the Pirates drop to 1-4 while HSU remains undefeated at 6-0. Southwestern University plays three road games this week; playing Mary Hardin-Baylor on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at 6:00 p.m., then travel to Arkansas to compete in the Hendrix Classic. Southwestern will play Rhodes on Friday, Nov. 30 at 6:00 p.m. and Hendrix on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 1:00 p.m.