Terre Haute, Ind. – The No. 3 Transylvania women's basketball team held off a voracious effort from the upset-minded Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Fightin' Engineers, delivering a 72-68 overtime victory on Saturday afternoon at Hulbert Arena.
Madison Kellione connected on six 3-pointers for a game-high 28 points and Laken Ball carried the Pioneers to the finish line, scoring all eight of the team's points in overtime for a 14-point day.
The Pioneers stayed undefeated at 14-0 overall and 6-0 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference play, dashing the hopes of Rose-Hulman, who fell two games back of the Pioneers in the conference standings at 4-2, and 6-5 overall. Transylvania completed the regular-season sweep of the Engineers with Saturday's road win.
The furious afternoon entailed a plethora of substantial runs by both teams, with the penultimate one benefiting the Pioneers over the last seven minutes of regulation. Trailing 60-52 after a triple by the Engineers, Transylvania outscored Rose-Hulman 12-4 over the remainder of the fourth quarter to square up the day at 64-64 and force another five minutes of gameplay.
Kellione scored five straight points to bring the Pioneers within three points with five minutes to go, and went 3 for 4 from the free throw line down the stretch to slice the Engineer advantage to 64-61 with 2:22 remaining.
Kennedi Stacy sank a clutch left-wing triple to tie up the game at 64-64 with 1:26 to go. The junior was fouled with less than a second to go on the clock after both teams forced stops against one another, but her charity shots went long, invoking overtime from Hulbert.
The defensive intensity amped up in overtime as both sides encountered an early drought. With the shot clock winding down, Ball sank a three-pointer from the top with 2:52 left in overtime to give the Pioneers the first lead of the extra session.
Transylvania continued hustling for extra opportunities; Grace Shope corralled an offensive rebound after Ball missed another three-point try, but the senior found Ball again wide open from beyond the arc, with Ball sinking her mulligan for a 70-64 Transy lead with 1:37 to go in overtime.
The Engineers quickly put four points on the scoreboard to cut the Pioneer lead to 70-68 with 44 seconds left. With time becoming a factor, Kellione drained the shot clock on the ensuing possession and found Ball in the paint for a game-sealing floater with 16 seconds left, sealing the come-from behind win for Transylvania.
Kellione finished the day 6 for 12 on three-pointers, 6 for 7 from the foul line, and added a game-high six assists to go with four rebounds and four steals. Dasia Thornton had a career-high 15 rebounds to go with 13 points for her third double-double of the season. Stacy finished with 12 points and joined Kellione and Ball as the lone Pioneers with multiple three-pointers on a day where the Pioneers shot 30 percent from outside.
The Pioneers displayed their resourcefulness against the gritty Engineers, outscoring Rose-Hulman 20-13 on second chance opportunities.
Transylvania is back at home for its next contest on Wednesday, January 26, hosting the Manchester University Spartans. The Pioneers will play early on Wednesday in an afternoon matinee doubleheader versus the Spartans at 1:00 p.m. at the Beck Center in Lexington, Kentucky.
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