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Ohio Wesleyan 79, Denison 76 (2/13/2002)

Senior guard Talia Brader (Westerville/Columbus DeSales) and junior post Mindy Hammond (Columbus/DeSales) each sank a pair of free throws in the final minute of the second overtime as the Bishops held on for a North Coast Athletic Conference win over Denison on Wednesday at Granville.

Ohio Wesleyan did not score a basket in the second overtime, getting all 10 points at the charity stripe. The Bishops broke a 69-69 tie with single free throws by freshman wing Kelly Heil (Sylvania/Southview), Brader and Hammond and still led by 3 points on a pair of free throws by senior post Katy Sturtz (Worthington/Columbus Watterson) that made the score 74-71 with 2:22 to play.

Hammond then hit a pair of free throws to hike the lead to 76-71 with :48 remaining, and after a Michelle Mehling 3-pointer, Brader was fouled and sank both shots to boost the Bishop lead to 78-74 with :33 to play. Denison missed a shot on its next possession and Heil was fouled with :10 to play.

Heil made one shot and missed the second, and Mehling cleared the rebound and was fouled. Mehling's 2 shots cut the deficit to 79-76 but the Bishops were able to run out the clock.

Ohio Wesleyan jumped to an early 9-2 lead as sophomore post Tiffany Barbee (Detroit, Mich./Cass Technical) scored 5 points, and built the lead to as many as 13 points, that coming on Brader's 3-pointer with 5:02 left in the first half that made the score 28-15.

Denison answered with a 10-0 run over the next 4 minutes, with Jessica McConnell scoring 5 of those points, and the first half ended with Ohio Wesleyan holding a 30-25 lead.

The Big Red carried that momentum over into the second half, scoring the first 5 points to tie the game at 30-30, but Ohio Wesleyan bounced back to score the next 7 points to re-take the lead at 37-30 with 15:33 left in regulation, the biggest lead by either team in the second half.

Denison wiped out that 7-point deficit to take a 41-39 lead on Danielle Spring's jumper with 12:27 remaining, but once again the Bishops had an answer and once again built the lead to 7 points at 56-49 on Barbee's lay-in with 3:58 to play.

Ohio Wesleyan still led by 5 when Barbee converted a 3-point play to make it 59-54 with 1:53 remaining, but the Big Red rallied with a pair of Casey Mohn baskets, the latter a 3-pointer that tied the game at 59-59 with :47 remaining. The Big Red had a chance to win the game in regulation after Ann Staubach stole the ball from Brader, but Spring's lay-up with :03 on the clock would not fall.

Denison took command in the first overtime, getting a 3-pointer from Jessica McConnell with 4:34 left to take the lead and building the edge to 7 points on a pair of McConnell free throws with 2:22 remaining, but the Bishops came back to tie on a pair of Sturtz free throws, a 3-point play by Heil and a lay-in from Sturtz with 1:00 remaining. Spring was wide on a 3-pointer with :30 to play in the period and the game headed into the second extra session.

Heil led the Bishops with 21 points, while Barbee finished with 17 points, Brader had 15 points and Sturtz added 10 points and led the Bishops with 11 rebounds and 4 assists.

Mohn led Denison with 14 points, Kendra Tolford scored 13 points and McConnell ended up with 12 points.