AVE MARIA, Fla.- The Ave Maria University women's basketball team earned perhaps their most exciting win of the 2022-23 season on Tuesday, knocking off the Concordia University Cardinals in overtime at Donahue Gym. The 73-70 Gyrene victory featured 17 lead changes and nine ties, and saw the Gyrenes survive two attempts - a game-winner in regulation and a game-tying try in overtime - from the visitors from Michigan.
Tuesday's game seemed to oscillate between high-scoring quarters and low-scoring ones. The first quarter was a high-scoring affair, with both teams putting 19 points on the board. Concordia held a six-point lead with 1:30 remaining in the frame, but Ave Maria answered with six points in the final ninety seconds, with a Casey Humphrey layup tying the score at 19 with five seconds remaining.
The second quarter was then much more defensively-minded, with just seven made field goals between the teams in the ten minutes before halftime. With neither team doing much offensively, the score stayed tight between the schools. Neither team led by more than two points in the second quarter, and the teams went to the locker rooms with the score tied at 28.
In the third quarter, both teams posted their highest scoring outputs of the day - 23 points for Concordia and 22 points for the Gyrenes. Ave Maria came out of the locker room red hot, building an eight-point lead on the back of a scoring spurt from Casey Humphrey. Concordia erased that lead by the end of the quarter, taking a 51-50 lead into the fourth thanks to a late layup from Samantha Dorn.
Ave Maria and Concordia both held leads in the fourth quarter, but it was Concordia that held the lead entering the final minute, partially due to a possession that lasted more than a minute and featured four Cardinal offensive rebounds. Emily Rapacz blocked the fifth Concordia shot on that possession, and Grace Field made a layup on the other end to tie the score at 61. Rapacz then blocked Concordia's game-winning chance on the final possession, sending the game to overtime.
Humphrey scored four of Ave Maria's first five points in overtime, as AMU built a 66-61 lead. After a Concordia three-pointer, Rapacz banked in a three of her own, as the Gyrenes' lead moved back to five. AMU led by eight points with 24 seconds remaining, but two Cardinal three-pointers and three missed Gyrene free throws gave Concordia a chance to tie the game at the buzzer. However, that shot missed the mark, allowing the Gyrenes to earn a major non-conference win.
Casey Humphrey had one of her best games of her sophomore season to date, making nine of her 12 shots en route to 21 points. Humphrey made all six of her two-point attempts, and knocked down three from long distance. Emily Rapacz followed with 17, while Grace Field earned yet another double-double, her sixth of the season, with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Field also added a team-best five assists.
The Gyrenes will now break for the Christmas holiday, with play resuming on Friday, December 30. Ave Maria's first game back will be a neutral site affair, as the Gyrenes battle Olivet Nazarene University on the campus of Warner University in Lake Wales. That game, the first of two for Ave Maria in Lake Wales, is scheduled to tip off at noon.
