(WARRENSBURG, Mo.) — Facing a 21-point first-half deficit, the 20th-ranked Jennies came back and rallied in overtime to take down visiting Quincy University 73-65 in Central Missouri’s home opener.
For the third consecutive game, senior Justina Prairie Chief finished as UCM’s leading scorer with 20 points, 14 of them coming from the free-throw line. Senior Revonnia Howard added 17 points of her own while collecting a career-high 21 rebounds (nine offensive).
Quincy and Central Missouri exchanged buckets through the first 5:52, but the Lady Hawks went on to score 14 unanswered points to pull ahead 25-9 with just over 10 minutes to go in the opening half. Their lead never dipped under 14 points for the remainder of the half, with their advantage peaking at 38-17 at the 3:40 mark.
Central Missouri faced a 43-26 hole going into halftime, shooting 27.8 percent (10-of-36) from the floor.
The Jennies opened the second half on an 8-4 spurt to trim their deficit to 13 with 16:45 remaining. A triple by senior Jasmine Thompson brought the score to 47-34.
After Quincy split a pair of free throws, junior Danielle Barry dropped in a layup, followed by a three-point play from Prairie Chief to bring UCM back to within single digits at 48-39. It marked the first time the point differential was at single digits since 12:32 remaining in the opening half.
Senior Breonna Embray came up with a steal and fed Thompson for a layup to slice the deficit to seven points at 48-41 with nearly 14 1/2 minutes to go.
After allowing four straight points to the Lady Hawks, junior Shelby Winkelmann, making her 2014-15 debut for the Jennies, splashed a triple to make it an eight-point game with 9:02 left.
Back-to-back layups by Howard on the next two UCM possessions made it a 52-48 game. Thompson would come through on a jumper to bring the game back to a one-possession contest at 52-50 two possessions later.
Over the next two and a half minutes, the Jennies kept chipping away at the deficit, led by Prairie Chief who scored six straight points to give UCM its first lead since 14:26 in the opening half.
Five lead changes ensued until three seconds remained in regulation. Trailing 63-61, Prairie Chief drew a foul from Carly Beebe and deposited two free throws to knot the game at 63-63, sending the game to overtime.
The Jennies outscored Quincy 16-8 in the paint and 37-20 overall in the second half.
In overtime, Howard scored the first four points to give UCM a 67-63 lead before Quincy answered with two good free throws by Tori Kuhn to put the tally at 67-65.
Prairie Chief drew a foul on the next possession and buried two free throws to give UCM a four-point edge with 2:38 left in the extra period. The Jennies closed the game out with four consecutive free-throw makes from Embray to preserve the 73-65 win.
The 21-point deficit was the largest hole the Jennies erased and came back to win since Dec. 18, 2012, when they trailed Dixie State by a dozen points in the first half to rally for a 78-69 victory.
The Jennies shot just 33.8 percent from the floor (23-of-68) and made 24-of-30 free throws (80 percent). They took advantage of 22 Quincy turnovers, converting them into 19 points.
UCM outscored the Lady Hawks 34-16 in the paint and 18-7 in second chance points.
The win was the 26th in the last 29 games for the Jennies against non-conference opponents in the regular season.
The Jennies travel to the University of West Florida campus in Pensacola, Florida, to play South Carolina-Aiken on Friday, Nov. 28, at 12 p.m. followed by a matchup with either West Florida or Arkansas-Monticello on Saturday, Nov. 29, at a time to be determined.