EDINBORO, Pa. (February 4, 2015) - The Edinboro women's basketball battled through the ups and downs of a heated contest on Wednesday night against Gannon for a 55-54 victory in overtime. Nicole Johnson tied her career-high with 12 points as her final marker proved to be the game-winner for the Fighting Scots, scoring on a layup with 15 seconds left in overtime to secure the 10^th victory over Gannon in the last 12 meetings. Edinboro improve to 15-6 overall and 12-5 in the PSAC West while the Lady Knights fall to 15-5 and 14-3 in the division.

Edinboro opened the game strong specifically the likes of Aignee' Freeland. The Fighting Scots jumped out to a 24-14 lead with Freeland scoring 14 points in the first 12 and a half minutes of gameplay.
 

Gannon cut the deficit to 31-25 at halftime. The Lady Knights leading scorer and rebounder entering the game, Nettie Blake, was saddled with foul trouble throughout the first half resulting in only six minutes of action and two points. Freeland scorched out to 16 early points on 7-for-10 shooting and pulled down four rebounds at the break.

The Lady Knights controlled a low-scoring second half up until the 6:12 mark. Gannon went on a 20-9 run that was capped off by a Mollie Sebald jumper to take a 45-40 lead. Edinboro shot 4-for-18 from the floor, 1-for-4 from the free throw line, and committed three turnovers over that stretch.

Valerie Majewksi and Lauren Hippo provided an answer for the Fighting Scots. Majewski made a 3-pointer with 5:37 remaining in the second half and Hippo followed that with a shot from beyond the arc as well to retake the lead 46-45 with 4:47 showing on the clock. Up to that point the two Edinboro sharpshooters were a combined 2-for-14 from the field and 1-for-7 on 3-pointers.

After exchanging a few possessions with no points, Brittany Batts made her first and only 3-pointer of the night with 3:06 to play in the second half. The Lady Knights went ahead 48-46.

Neither team scored for the next two minutes. Batts missed a jumper with 1:18 left and Freeland pulled down the rebound. Laurel Lindsay capitalized on the other end with a layup to tie the game at 48-48 with 1:01 left in the first half.

Gannon's Amanda Berchtold turned the ball over on the subsequent possession and the Fighting Scots took a timeout with 36 seconds remaining. Edinboro put the ball in the hands of Hippo who could not connect on a 3-pointer with 17 seconds left and Gannon took control of the ball. The Scots defense stymied the Lady Knights attempt to end the game in regulation as Berchtold missed a jumper and Blake's attempt after the offensive rebound was blocked by Freeland.

The Lady Knights jumped out to a two possession lead following 3-pointers by Brianna Brennan and Morgan Neighbors. Gannon led 54-48 with 3:44 left to play.
Facing an eerily similar situation to the last time Edinboro played an overtime game, trailing by two possessions to Gannon in McComb Fieldhouse on January 18, 2014 less than minutes into the extra period, the Fighting Scots battled back first with a layup by Lindsay at the 3:25 mark. Lindsay than drained a 3-pointer with a hand in her face to cut the lead to 54-53 with 2:34 to go.

The Fighting Scots defense stepped up to the challenge once again and prevented the Lady Knights from scoring on their next three possessions. This set the stage for Johnson. The Fighting Scots dished the ball into Freeland who then made a great pass to a cutting Johnson who connected with 15 seconds remaining.

Gannon called upon Neighbors to try and recapture the lead but her 3-pointer fell astray with seven seconds left. Brennan corralled the offensive rebound but then traveled to turn it back over to Edinboro with 4.4 seconds showing on the clock. The Lady Knights committed two quick fouls to put Edinboro into the bonus. Lindsay then struggled to find an open Scots player to in-bound the ball to and launched it down court. Batts chased down the ball but was unable to turn and shoot from beyond half court in time for a shot to count.

Edinboro shot 23-for-65 (35.4 percent) in the game and 6-for-20 (30 percent) on 3-pointers. Gannon went 23-for-61 (37.7 percent) from the floor and 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) from beyond the arc. The Fighting Scots outrebounded the Lady Knights 42-39 and also committed just 12 turnovers to Gannon's 15.

Johnson's 12 points were a season-high in addition to tying her career-high. The sophomore forward finished 6-for-8 from the floor and added six rebounds.

Freeland led Edinboro with 16 points, tying her career-high against Gannon. The junior forward/center scored all of her points in the first half and shot 7-for-16 on the night. She pulled down 11 rebounds for her fifth double-double this season. It was the first time in her last four contests that Freeland did not score 20-or-more points.
 

Lindsay was the only other Edinboro player to score in double figures. The graduate student guard/forward neared a double-double with 13 points and nine rebounds. She also had six assists. Lindsay moved into 24^th all-time in school history in scoring surpassing Lori Dolby and Mary Ann Chilcott as she reached 1,070 career points. She also reached exactly 500 rebounds for her career and is now 20 assists away from becoming the third women's basketball player in PSAC history to accumulate 1,000 career points, 500 career rebounds, and 500 career assists.

Neighbors led Gannon in scoring with 13 points off the bench. The junior guard shot 5-for-13 from the field and 3-for-8 on 3-pointers.

Blake led the Lady Knights with seven rebounds and was second on the team with 11 points. Edinboro limited the senior center to 4-for-10 from the floor.

This was Edinboro's first victory against the top three teams in the PSAC West this season, previously losing one to each California (Pa.), Indiana (Pa.), and Gannon. It was also the Fighting Scots sixth straight home win against the Lady Knights and eighth straight win at home this season.

The Fighting Scots travel to Mercyhurst on Saturday. The Lakers are coming off a 70-63 loss at Slippery Rock. Edinboro defeated Mercyhurst 91-64 back on December 6, 2014 and have won five straight games in the series. The Lakers are 8-15 overall this year and 5-12 in the PSAC West. The game is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. tip-off.