Jimmies rally late, defeat DWU in OT

The University of Jamestown women's basketball team came back from a five-point deficit with 1:14 left to force overtime and went on to a 78-75 win over Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) University Wednesday night at Harold Newman Arena.

Jamestown trailed by five points on three separate occasions in the fourth, the latest coming after Rynn Osthus made a three-pointer with 74 seconds left.

UJ got within two points after a three-point play by Hannah DeMars (JR/Grand Rapids, MN) on the next possession, then forced a Tiger turnover that resulted in a game-tying layup by Kia Tower (JR/Bigfork, MN) with 31 seconds left.

In the overtime period, Jamestown shot 7-of-9 from the free throw line and got a couple of key blocked shots on defense to get the win. Jada Campbell had given DWU their last lead at 75-74 after making a pair of free throws. Noelle Josephson (SR/Ramsey, MN) then made two foul shots to put UJ back in front, then Tower extended the lead with a pair of her own at the 11 second mark.

Isabel Inhen's three-point attempt as time ran out was blocked by Megan Oswald (FR/Brownsdale, MN), and the Jimmies had their first conference win of the season.

UJ led 13-11 after the first quarter, but a dismal 1-for-12 shooting performance along with seven turnovers in the second saw them down 29-21 at the break.

Jamestown responded with 27 points after the break, making 11 of 20 shots overall including four of six from three-point range. An 11-point DWU lead with 4:04 in the quarter was cut to one by the time the buzzer sounded on the third quarter.

Tower and DeMars both finished with 16 to lead Jamestown. Josephson had 15 points, eight steals, and seven rebounds, while Oswald had ten points off the bench. Tower also had a team-high four assists.

Jamestown, now 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the GPAC, travels to Midland (Neb.) Saturday for a 2 p.m. start.