GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - The Davenport women's basketball team was staring down overtime late on Saturday at Cornerstone before junior guard Momo Neal drove the lane and put up the game-winning points with three seconds left for a 61-59 win over the Golden Eagles. The Panthers improved to 26-2 overall and 20-0 in the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference with the win and are still in pursuit of a perfect WHAC regular season with two road games at Siena Heights and Indiana Tech remaining next week.
Davenport got off to a great start with a 7-0 lead capped off by a three-pointer by Emily Severn. DU held a 14-6 lead with 2:51 left in the first quarter after a shot in the paint by Mallory Sewell. The Panthers finished the first quarter with a 16-13 lead.
Cornerstone took their first lead inside two minutes of the second quarter at 17-16 on a basket by Jesse Sheridan. Davenport took the lead right back and the teams were back-and-forth including a 24-24 tie with 4:08 left until halftime on another Sheridan basket. Severn nailed a three to make it 27-24 and then Lizzy Otten tied it again at 27-27 with 58 seconds on the clock. Chri Carter missed the first free throw and then made the second with one second left for a 28-27 lead at the break for DU.
The Panthers stormed out in the second half on a 8-0 run capped off by Severn's jumper for a 36-27 lead in the first 2:46 of the third quarter. DU built their lead to 40-29 on Neal's free throws with 5:16 left in the quarter. Sewell scored the final points of the third with 46 seconds for a 48-40 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Cornerstone cut the lead down to 54-50 on a Sheridan triple with 7:40 remaining and then Cass Vredevoogd tied the game at 54-54 with 4:48 left on a layup. The Golden Eagles took a three-point lead at 59-56 on a Sheridan bucket with 54 seconds to go, but Neal came up huge with a three-point play on the next possession. Sheridan missed a 15-footer on CU's last possession as Molly Babbs grabbed the rebound setting up the final play. Davenport called timeout and then Neal got the ball and hit the game-winner for her ninth point of the game. CU inbounded with no timeouts and could not get past mid-court.
Davenport shot 37.1 percent (23-of-62) from the floor and 75 percent (12-of-16) from the free throw line. Sewell led the team with 18 points on 8-of-16 shooting and grabbed five rebounds. Severn scored 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds. Babbs led the team with 13 rebounds. Carter led the team with six assists.
