Horner's 19 Points Leads Bearcats to Overtime Victory Against Lewis & Clark

Salem, Ore. - Willamette Women's Basketball led almost the entire game only to find themselves trailing in the closing seconds but rallied to defeat Lewis & Clark 76-72 in overtime.  A three-point basket by Gio Horner with less than a second to go gave the Bearcats the lead back, but a Pioneer free throw tied the game at the end of regulation.  Willamette outscored the visitors 11-7 in overtime to pull out the win.

Willamette scored the first five points of the game and took an early 14-4 lead on a layup by Horner just over halfway through the first quarter.  Lewis & Clark finished the quarter with a 7-2 run to trail 16-11 at the break.

The teams traded baskets through much of the second quarter and the Pios pulled within one point at 26-25 on a Madilyn Palosi three-pointer with 4:23 on the clock.  Willamette closed out the quarter with a 13-3 run, capped off by a long-range three from Maya Sanders at the buzzer to give the Bearcats a 39-28 lead heading to halftime.

Willamette stretched its leads to as many as fifteen in the third quarter as four straight points from Daisy Boling-Schmidt put them up 45-30, but Lewis & Clark began to chip away at the lead throughout the third and into the fourth quarter.  The Pioneers got as close as four points on several occasions and pulled within just one point at 62-61 after another Palosi three-pointer with just over a minute to play.  A layup by Palosi put L&C ahead for the first time in the entire game with only 32 seconds left in the contest, setting the stage for Horner's heroics.  Trailing 64-62 with only nine seconds left, Kaitlin Imai found Horner in the right corner and her three-point attempt bounced on the rim four times before falling through with under a second left.

Horner scored four of Willamette's first six points of overtime and two free throws by Peyton Gardner with three seconds left gave the Bearcats their final four-point margin of victory.

Horner led four Bearcats in double figures with 19 points.  Joining her in double figures were Kaitlin Imai with 17, Maya Sanders with 13, and Daisy Boling-Schmidt with 12.  Horner led Willamette in rebounds with nine, followed by Imai with seven, and Emma Floyd with six.  Imai dished out four assists, with Sanders and Peyton Gardner each contributing three.

After a break for final exams, the team will return to the court when they host the University of California Santa Cruz on Monday, December 16th, and Washington & Lee University on Tuesday, December 17th.  Both games are scheduled to tip off at 6:00 pm.