For the first time this season, the Missouri Western women's basketball team faced overtime, but the Griffons answered the overtime call with their first statement win of the season. Brionna Budgetts recorded her first double-double of the year with 19 points and 10 rebounds as MWSU beat Central Missouri 68-67.
For the second-straight game, Missouri Western opened the first quarter with a huge run after giving up the first basket. Corbyn Cunningham led a 17-4 run for the home team with nine points, and the Griffons held the Jennies to 1-14 shooting over a stretch of nearly seven minutes.
After extending a 20-10 lead to 27-10 inside the first two minutes of the second quarter, Missouri Western went dead cold from the floor, with Central Missouri taking advantage with an 18-0 run to take a 28-27 lead into the intermission.
Missouri Western's shooting woes continued into the third quarter as the Griffons missed 13 consecutive shots over a span of 10:32 and only managed two points from a pair of Cunningham free throws at the 8:54 mark of the third.
Budgetts emphatically snapped the drought, grabbing a defensive rebound and racing coast-to-coast and splashing a layup. The bucket rekindled the Griffon offense, as Missouri Western shot 6-9 to close the quarter and narrowed the deficit to two points, 45-43.
After snapping the drought in the third, Budgetts had a big impact to start the fourth quarter as well. After forcing a backcourt violation, she knocked home a three from the near side and drew a charge to put Olivia Nelson on the bench with four fouls and 9:05 left in regulation.
As the Griffons rolled off a 14-8 run, Nelson was forced to check back in, drawing her fifth foul with 6:05 to play. Even without one of its top players, however, Central Missouri was able to close the gap and tie the game at 59-59 with two minutes left.
Cunningham knocked down a turnaround jumper on the next possession to put the Griffons up 61-59, but the Jennies were able to respond with a second chance layup from Nija Collier.
In the final minute, each team had two opportunities to seal the win in regulation. A Griffon miss with 45 seconds to play was followed by a Central Missouri miss with 18 to go that saw Collier initially grab the offensive rebound but lose her grip and knock the ball out of bounds.
Missouri Western tried to hold for the last shot, but Cunningham wasn't able to weave through a triple-team in the lane and the Jennies were able to come away with the rebound and call timeout with 2.2 seconds left. The Griffons swarmed UCM on the inbounds play and survived to the final horn.
Cunningham sandwiched a pair of jumpers around a three-pointer by Jaelyn Haggard as the Griffons opened a 68-63 lead, but Collier was able to hit a pair of jumpers to pull Central Missouri within 1 with 41 seconds left in overtime.
An MWSU miss with 14 seconds left gave the Jennies one final opportunity to win the game, but Kade Hackerott's three-pointer was off the mark. Despite coming away with the offensive board, Brooke Littrell was whistled for a foul in the scramble, sending Connie Clarke to the free throw line with 1.0 seconds on the clock. Clarke smartly missed both free throws, giving UCM no time for a desperation heave and preserving the win.
