PHILADELPHIA – The Ursinus College women's basketball team squeezed every last drop out of its first-ever trip to the world-famous Palestra, battling a strong Gettysburg group into overtime in the opener of Sunday's Centennial Conference showcase event.
Both teams had their chances in a back-and-forth thriller, but the Bears ultimately came up a couple plays shy in a 64-59 overtime setback.
Sophomore Lydia Konstanzer led all scorers with 25 points in her latest dominating performance for Ursinus (8-7, 5-5), which also got a career-high 19 points off the bench from freshman Aliyah Stephens.
Emma Dorshimer produced 20 points and Emily Gibbons added 16 points and 15 rebounds for Gettysburg (12-2, 8-1), which was three days removed from handing No. 12 Muhlenberg its first loss of the season. Ursinus limited the Bullets to 31.4 percent shooting, but Gettysburg went 26 for 32 from the free-throw line to eke out a hard-fought result.
Gettysburg's biggest lead was just eight, 41-33, in the third quarter. But after Ursinus scored the next seven points bridging the end of the period, neither side led by more than three until the final minute of overtime.
The Bears nearly had this one, as Stephens drove the lane for a basket and a 51-48 lead with just 34 seconds remaining. Even after the Bullets hit a tying 3-pointer, Stephens had a chance to win it after being fouled with 7.3 seconds left, but missed on both. Gettysburg went ahead for good on two Gibbons free throws halfway through the extra period and held on from there.
The Bears got off to a sloppy start, turning it over on six of their first seven possessions. But Stephens single-handedly got the Black and Old Gold rolling, slicing down the left side of the lane for the team's first points and burying a right-wing 3 on a kick-out from fellow rookie Maya Kornfeld on the next trip to stake Ursinus to an early 5-2 lead.
The Bullets struck back with a 7-0 run, but Konstanzer snapped a scoring drought of nearly four minutes with a steal and breakaway lay-in. Konstanzer buried a pair of mid-range jumpers in the final minute of the quarter, after which Gettysburg held a 14-11 advantage.
Ursinus regained the lead on a broken play midway through the second quarter, when Konstanzer collected a loose ball and converted a three-point play as the shot-clock buzzer sounded to make it 19-17 at the 5:46 mark. The Bears held the high-powered Orange and Blue without a field goal for almost nine minutes, though Gettysburg made all eight of its free throws in the first half and took a 25-22 lead into the break when Gibbons snuck inside for a lay-up off an inbounds play with 26 ticks showing on the clock.
Ursinus, which had held Washington College and Dickinson to 25.7-percent shooting combined in two wins earlier in the week, stifled the Bullets to a 26-percent showing (7 for 27) in the first half, forcing nine turnovers in the process. Gettysburg was just 2 for 12 from the floor in the second period.
Dorshimer connected from deep and converted a spin move to stretch the Bullets' lead to 39-31 at the 2:15 mark of the third. Desperately needing a play, freshman Marisa Morano followed a pair of Gettysburg free throws by draining a trey from the left wing to cut it to 41-36 after three.
Konstanzer opened the fourth with a basket plus one, and Stephens chased down the missed free throw to set up an up-and-under by Konstanzer that made it 41-40.
Senior Rachel Guy canned a 3 from the left corner to knot it at 45 with 5:17 to go, and Stephens stepped in front of a pass for a breakaway go-ahead bucket. The Bullets went back in front on a free throw by Ashley Gehrin before Kornfeld raced up-court for a basket to give Ursinus a 49-48 edge with 2:51 left.
With the score the same, Ursinus managed to run down three of its own misses and call a timeout with 50.1 seconds to play. Stephens took full advantage, barreling down the right side for a lay-up before Gehrin nailed a tying 3 with 19 to go.
After Stephens missed her free throws, Dorshimer got a good look from the top of the key, but her potential winner was no good as the teams went to overtime.
Konstanzer knocked down two free throws for a 55-52 lead with 3:37 left in the extra session. After hitting two foul shots to tie it at 56, Gibbons sunk two more to hand the Bullets a two-point edge, but Guy was fouled and connected on the first to halve the deficit. Gehrin responded with one of two at the line.
Morano's lay-up spun out, and she fouled out with 32.0 seconds to go. Gehrin hit on both free throws for a 61-57 Gettysburg lead, but Stephens swished a jumper with 15.8 showing. Dorshimer was clutch at the line to restore a four-point margin, and Kornfeld missed a jumper as the Bullets survived the Bears' charge.
Kornfeld finished with five points, a career-high seven rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Morano added three points, four boards, and three assists. Ursinus shot 35.8 percent for the day, but made just 7 of 15 from the line.
The Bears forced the Bullets into 17 turnovers, which led to a 17-2 discrepancy in points off miscues.
The women's basketball team resumes CC play at Bryn Mawr on Wednesday, January 17.
