BOX SCORE JACKSON, Miss. – In what will go down as one of the wildest endings in Prairie View A&M women's basketball history, Jackson State managed to squeeze out an 83-82 double overtime win over the Lady Panthers on Saturday evening at the Williams Athletic & Assembly Center.
Even though the Lady Panthers dominated the offensive glass and received their fair share of open shots, Jackson State controlled the contest for the first nine minutes as they stormed out to a 14-7 lead. With the game slipping away, freshman guard Alexus Parker ended a three-minute scoring drought with a layup followed by a Shaneece Stephens' layup off a LaReahn Washington steal.
From that point, the Lady Panthers began to assert themselves on both ends of the court as they reversed the tide and claimed a 24-18 lead following Gabrielle Scott's jumper. JSU's Ekware Ndongo moved her squad to within 24-22 at the 1:29 mark after back-to-back buckets but PVAMU sophomore post Shamiya Brooks continued her dominance on the glass with a putback for a 26-22 advantage which held at the half.
After a well-played first half from the personal foul aspect, things began to turn sour for the Lady Panthers as the second half began as they were whistled for five fouls within the first six minutes. Despite the early setbacks, the Lady Panthers upped their lead to 29-24 with 16:06 left but saw the game turn back in JSU's favor as they went on a 13-4 surge over the next two minutes to reclaim a 37-33 margin with 13:01 on the clock. Two free throws by Precious Roberts gave PVAMU a 39-38 lead shortly thereafter but JSU took control once again and maintained its lead for an eight-minute span.
With JSU on top 52-50 with 3:49 remaining, senior guard LaReahn Washington tied the contest with a layup followed by four straight points from Brooks to move the Lady Panthers on top 56-52 at the 2:25 mark. JSU's Dominique Brothern drained a trey with 1:03 remaining to draw them within 60-59 and two free throws by Alisa Ross gave JSU a 61-60 margin with 24 seconds on the clock. Ten seconds later, junior guard Jeanette Jackson nailed a jumper for a 62-61 PVAMU lead and added two more free throws after she was fouled following a missed JSU shot attempt with three seconds remaining. Following Jackson's free throws and the Lady Panthers up 64-61, PVAMU called a timeout to set up its defense but JSU's Alisa Ross drove down the court and nailed a trey to send the contest into overtime.
In the first OT, the Lady Panthers claimed a three-point margin with two minutes left but relinquished its lead with 47 seconds remaining after Ndongo nailed 1-of-2 from the charity stripe. JSU claimed a 72-70 lead with eight seconds left but Jeanette Jackson once again penetrated the defense and sent the contest into double overtime with a basket at the two-second mark.
During double OT, the Lady Panthers jumped out to a 78-74 lead less than two minutes in but a series of strange things happened from that point as PVAMU was whistled for two personal fouls and a technical foul in a span of 1:02. As a result of the fouls, JSU nailed four free throws for the 15th tie of the contest but Jackson overcame the adversity and scored a layup for an 80-78 margin with 1:31 remaining. JSU's Brothern drained a trey on the ensuing possession for the 81-80 JSU advantage followed by 1-of-2 free throws from Ross for the 82-80 advantage. With the bench running low on depth, head coach Dawn Brown was forced to insert Larissa Scott, who was sitting out due to an injury. Scott tied the contest at 82-all after an assist from Precious Roberts and came up with a block on the ensuing possession. However, JSU rebounded the block and was sent to the foul line and nailed 1-of-2 free throws with six seconds left to move ahead 83-82. Jeanette Jackson once again drove down the court for the game-winner but her basket fell short as JSU held on for the emotional win.
Freshman Alexus Parker had a career-high 21 points followed by 18 from Jackson and 10 from Brooks. Brooks completed her first career double-double with 11 rebounds while Asha Hampton-Finch posted her second-consecutive 11-rebound performance.
PVAMU will have little time to recuperate as they'll face off against Grambling State at 5:30 p.m. inside the Assembly Center on Monday evening.
