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MONTICELLO – Sophomores Jordan Goforth and Tamia Grady combined for 56 points to lead the University of Arkansas at Monticello women's basketball team to an 82-80 overtime victory over Northwestern Oklahoma State at home on Saturday.
Both teams went back and forth with 10 tie scores and 15 lead changes in the first half. Northwestern (0-6, 0-2 Great American Conference) led 38-31 at halftime and UAM (3-2, 1-1 GAC) took the second half 39-32 to force UAM's first overtime game since last year's conference tournament opener against Arkansas Tech. The Cotton Blossoms made 5-of-10 shots in the overtime period and held the Rangers to just two made field goals in the extra five minutes to seal UAM's first conference victory of the season.
Goforth turned in her first career 30-point game and led all scorers with 31 points on a 10-for-13 shooting performance and an 11-for-13 outing at the free-throw line. She went 6-for-6 from the field in the second half and sank her only two attempts in the overtime period before fouling out.
Grady finished with 25 points after going 7-for-20 from the field and 10-for-12 at the free-throw line.
The biggest run in the first half belonged to NWOSU with a 9-0 burst in thefinal three minutes before UAM sophomore Nikki Mullen made a pair of free-throws with three seconds remaining to cut the Ranger lead to seven points at halftime.
The Rangers used a 7-2 scoring starting at the 15:20 mark of the second half to take a 52-43 lead and later grabbed its largest lead of the game at 11 points with 9:04 remaining in the second half on a jump shot from Micaela Yu.
UAM tightened it up in the final five minutes with a 6-0 run to tie the score at 66-all at the 3:03 mark on a three-pointer from Grady, a pair of jumpersfrom Goforth and a pair of free throws from Mullen.
Grady made a pair of free throws to force a 70-70 tie with 47 seconds remaining, grabbed a defensive rebound on the other side and missed a jump shot with two seconds remaining to end regulation. She got another chance to seal the win in overtime and came through on a layup with three seconds remaining to seal the win.
In between Grady's free throws at the end of the second half and her game-winning layup, the Blossoms outscored the Rangers 12-10 in the extra period. Goforth scored five consecutive points in the first minute of overtime to give UAM a 75-72 lead. UAM stretched that lead to four points on a three-pointer from Nikki Mullen with 3:08 remaining. Mullen's trey gave UAM its largest lead of the game. The Rangers forced two more tie scores in the final three minutes but were never able to regain the lead.
UAM finished the game shooting 40 percent from the field (24-for-60), 38 percent on three-pointers (3-for-8) and 84 percent on foul shots (31-for-37). NWOSU finished at 48 percent from the field (27-for-56), 23 percent on three-pointers (3-for-13) and 79 percent on foul shots (23-for-29).
Kamera Bozeman led the Rangers with 19 points and nine rebounds. Kaci Hansen added a double-double of 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
The Blossoms are back in action on Monday, November 25 at home against WestFlorida for a non-conference game. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. inside Steelman Field House.
