SAN ANTONIO, Texas --- The women's basketball team overcame a 16-point deficit to force overtime and grab its first win of the season over East Texas Baptist. The Bruins earned the 77-69 victory on Saturday afternoon at Trinity's Together Tigers Invitational.

Recap

Fox took its first lead of the game when Hailey Hartney drilled a three at the 8:54 mark, but the Tigers slowly built a 21-11 to end the first quarter. It was the Bruins turn to get hot as they clawed their way back in the second, cutting a 16-point deficit to nine. The Blue & Gold used back-to-back trifectas from Kylin Collman and Kaylee Bishop and 8-for-9 shooting from the free-throw line to outshoot the Tigers 19-18 in the second.

The Bruins applied the defensive pressure out of the break, holding the Tigers to just six points in the third period. On the other end of the court, Spencer, Collman, and Hartney all drained threes to give Fox its first lead since the opening minutes. The Tigers fought back with a 16-14 scoring advantage in the fourth quarter, going toe-to-toe with the Bruins and matching every shot. A short-range jumper from ETBU's Amanda Wilson tied the game up for the third time, but both team's efforts fell short in the final 30 seconds.

The overtime period was high scoring and radically different from the Bruins' first-half appearance. The Bruins recovered from a 7-of-26 shooting performance in the first half to finish the game shooting 36.8 percent from the field (21-57), including a 16-8 shooting advantage in overtime.

Fox scored the first five points of overtime–two by Haley Strowbridge and a three by Hartney. The squads exchanged buckets, but treys from Strowbridge and Hartney propelled the Bruins to a six-point lead at the 1:18 mark. As the clock ticked down, the Bruins used a 5-for-8 performance at the charity stripe to solidify their 77-69 victory.

Top Performers

Hartney gave the Bruins a game-high 24 points while going 8-for-14 from the field. Her seven threes were just one short of the program record of eight set by Jami Roos back in 2012. Haley Strowbridge finished with 14 points (4-7) to go along with five assists and four rebounds while Collman added 12 points of her own. Those three combined for 50 of the team's 77 total points while Emily Spencer dished out a team-high six assists.

What It Means

With its first win of the season, the Blue & Gold now holds an overall record of 1-1.

What Comes Next

The Bruins make their 2019-20 debut at home when they host Pomona-Pitzer in the first of five consecutive home games.