The Waynesburg University Women’s basketball team fought back in the fourth quarter with two minutes left. 

Finding itself in a seven-point deficit, the Yellow Jackets went on a nine-point run before Hiram answered to send the game into overtime. 

Hiram’s senior Madisen Branch put up a career-high 34 points to defeat Waynesburg. 

With 30 lead changes, the game was determined in the final seconds of overtime. 

Waynesburg took the lead early and held it at 21-19 to end the first quarter. 

The score was tied after the second, third, and fourth quarters in this tight contest. . 

During the final five-minute overtime, however, Hiram College came out victorious  89-83. 

Despite the frustrating loss, head coach Sam Jones found positives while on the road.

“Everything that went wrong is a very correctable thing,” Jones said. “I think if we can learn from these mistakes it will be a great lesson for us moving forward.”

The Jackets were led in points by Sophomore Avery Robinson who put up 21 going 5-11 from beyond the arc. 

“Avery shot the ball well,” Jones said. “We got contributions from a lot of places, which is always great.”

After a great defensive stop from the Jackets, junior Anika Dansby assisted senior Brooke Fuller who took the lead near the end of regulation with a layup. Only 3.6 seconds remained on the clock

“I was surprised that it came to me and was really excited it went in,” Fuller said. “But I realized that three seconds is a lot of time left in a basketball game.”

Fuller was right. The Terriers put in the final score to tie the game once again and send it into overtime 79-79.

Dansby almost finished the night with a triple double, recording 10 points and leading the team with nine rebounds and eight assists. 

“ [Dansby] did a lot of really good things tonight,” Jones said. “She was getting all of their guards in foul trouble and distributed the ball really well.”

Leaders on the team recognized the need for urgency to close the game.

“We got to keep our heads up and stay in the game,” Dansby said. “I think what it really comes down to is just being mentally tough.”

“Something to improve on is our excitement and energy going into the fourth quarter.” Fuller said. “I feel like when it started getting down to the wire we lost our energy. 

Waynesburg has lost seven straight away games. 

The next matchup for the Yellow Jackets will be held at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse on Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. against Case Western Reserve.

Heading into a full week of only practice, Waynesburg still has high hopes for the future.

“Every mistake is fixable,” Fuller said. “ I’m excited to see what we can fix for the next game.”