By Jeremy O’Neill
Contributing Writer
The energetic Friday night crowd at Juhan Gymnasium got their money’s worth in quality basketball on January 25th, as the Sewanee Women’s team went into two overtimes in a thrilling victory over Birmingham-Southern, with a final score of 72-69. The Tigers relied upon sound defense and clutch shooting to avenge their close loss to the Panthers earlier this season, and improve to 8-11 on the year.
Sewanee carried a 30-22 lead into halftime, and was able to stretch it to 45-32 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Birmingham-Southern did not go down lightly, however, as they rallied with a 25 point 4th quarter to force overtime. Both teams’ offenses were active in the first overtime, but needed every minute of the second period to decide a winner. In the end, it was Sewanee’s exceptional defense in the final minute of double-overtime that sealed the game, as the tigers were able to preserve a one-point lead. This defense was highlighted by a clutch steal and made free throws by Sue Kim (C’19) to put the Tigers up by three with less than 3 seconds on the clock.
After the game, guard Ellie Treanton (C’22), who lead all scorers with a career-high 20 points in the contest, remarked on her team’s great chemistry in the win.
“I feel like as a team that was the first game that we have actually played really well together with good team defense, communication, and energy, both on the floor and on the bench,” Treanton said.
Teamwork and communication will be something the Tigers continue to focus on, as they work with a talented but young lineup that includes eight freshmen.
Moving ahead, guard Kim is now 27 assists from tying the school record of 371 in that category, which currently belongs to alumna Kayla Goodwin (C’02). The team ended their homestand with a loss against Millsaps on January 27th, before traveling west to Conway, Arkansas to face Hendrix College on Friday, February 1st.