LYNCHBURG, Va. - For the second straight game, the Saint Joseph's women's basketball team went into overtime. Unfortunately the result wasn't the same as Tuesday as the Hawks fell, 76-75, at Liberty Saturday afternoon at the Vines Center.
With the game tied a 75-75, Liberty's Karly Buer hit the second of two free throws to put her team ahead, 76-75. Off the inbound, junior Ciara Andrews got a clean look at midcourt, only to have her shot hit the rim and bounce off as the buzzer sounded.
Sparked by senior Natasha Cloud's career-high 29 points, the Hawks fought back from a six point halftime deficit to go ahead 62-5-9 on her three-pointer with 5:19 to play.
The Flames (2-1) fought back to regain the lead, 65-63 with under a minute to go, but Andrews' layup at 1:22 tied the game.
After misses at both ends, Saint Joseph's got a late turnover, and after a timeout, Cloud's jumper in the lane was off the mark as regulation expired.
In the overtime frame, Liberty had the ball up 73-71 when SJU freshman Adashia Franklyn came up with a big defensive stand, blocking a shot and grabbing the rebound, leading to a Cloud layup that tied the game at 73-73 with 52 seconds to play.
Following a pair layup by Liberty, Cloud again made a big play, hitting a jumper in the lane with 18 seconds to go to tie the game.
Saint Joseph's would get a break as Buer missed the front end of two free throws with 2.9 seconds to go, but it wasn't enough as Liberty got the next free throw for the win.
The Hawks jumped ahead early in the first half as they built a 19-10 lead on a jumper by Andrews at 12:14. Saint Joseph's hit 8-of-13 from the field, including a three-pointer and a pair of free throws as it built its biggest lead of the game less than eight minutes in.
Liberty's defense answered back though, holding the Hawks to 1-of-7 from the field over the next eight minutes, allowing the host Flames to put together a 16-4 run and take a 26-23 lead on a layup by Ashley Rininger at 4:58.
Saint Joseph's, which shot 4-of-15 from the field over the final 12 minutes of the half, got a pair of free throws from Cloud to cut the deficit to 37-31 at the half.
For the game, Cloud went 10-of-16 from the field, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc and 6-of-8 fr4om the foul line. She added five rebounds, three assists, two steals and a blocked shot, while Andrews also capped the game with a career-high scoring day, finishing with 23 points and adding four assists.
As a team, the Hawks shot 43.8 percent overall (28-of-64), 30.8 percent from behind the arc and hit 15-of-20 from the line. Saint Joseph's, which was outrebounded 52-32, caused 20 turnovers and had a season-high 15 steals.
Buer led four Flames in double figures with 15 points, while Liberty finished at 37.9 percent overall (25-of-66), 31.6 percent from three-point range (6-of-19) and 74.1 percent from the foul line (20-of-27).
The Hawks return to action Tuesday at Drexel at 7 p.m.
GAME NOTES: The Hawks are now 1-1 all-time versus Liberty...Franklyn had her first collegiate points (three) and added a team-high six rebounds to go with a blocked shot and two steals...Ashley Robinson had five points, five rebounds, three steals and three assists before fouling out...Jessica Pongonis and Jordan Strode each had two points...Kathleen Fitzpatrick finished with one point, four steals and four assists...Sarah Veilleux added a rebound...Chelseas Woods played one minute.
