In a game with 22 lead changes and 12 ties, the No. 25 MSU women’s basketball team finally broke through late in the second overtime, earning a hard-fought 93-90 double-overtime win against Oklahoma State to win the Lucaya Division of the Junkanoo Jam on Saturday night in Freeport, Bahamas.
MSU led 83-80 late in the first overtime following two free throws from junior forward Kalisha Keane. But Oklahoma State guard Andrea Riley struck for the Cowgirls, scoring three of her 44 points by banking in a 25-foot 3-pointer to tie the game at the buzzer, sending it to a second overtime.
The teams kept battling in the second overtime with neither squad leading by more than two points. A jumper by Cowgirls center Lindsey Keller tied the game at 88 with 1:05 to go, but on MSU’s next possession, Keane found senior forward Aisha Jefferson wide open under the basket for a lay-in to give MSU a 90-88 lead.
Riley would try to strike again from very-long range to give her team the lead, but her shot clanked off the iron and junior guard Brittney Thomas corralled the rebound and was fouled. She split the pair, but the Spartans got the rebound off the miss and Keane iced the game with two more free throws.
Keane played one of her best games as a Spartan, scoring 20 points with 13 rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals in 35 minutes. She was aided by senior center Allyssa DeHaan, who notched a team-high 23 points with nine rebounds and eight blocks in 36 minutes. She scored eight of MSU’s 10 points in the first overtime to keep her team in it despite playing with four fouls for the final 8:08.
The Spartans (4-2 overall) went into halftime with a 45-41 lead despite being down by as many as 10 early in the half. MSU took its largest lead of the game at six, 47-41, early in the second half on a jumper by Jefferson. The Spartans would find themselves down by as many as four with five minutes to play but MSU quickly erased that and went up four itself with 1:06 to play on a jumper by DeHaan. Riley tied the game with two free throws with 12 seconds left, but freshman guard Jasmine Thomas missed a 3-pointer as time expired, sending the game to overtime.
Sophomore forward Lykendra Johnson finished with 12 points and seven rebounds for MSU. She fouled out with 1:29 remaining in regulation. Thomas had her second straight strong game, finishing with 11 points, three of which came on a huge 3-pointer with 3:01 left in regulation that gave MSU a one-point lead.
Riley scored 44 points on 14-of-42 shooting (3-of-16 from 3-point range) and eight assists for the Cowgirls (4-2). She played all 50 minutes. Forward Tegan Cunningham finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
Riley finished the tournament with 61 points in two games on 19-of-69 shooting.
Next up for the Spartans is a showdown with No. 4 North Carolina at 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Breslin Center.
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