First-year forward Jessica Wood gathered 20 points for the Ursuline Arrows, but it wasn’t enough to defeat the Oberlin women’s basketball team, as Ursuline College gave the Yeowomen their first win of the season.

In the first half of play, Oberlin came out strong, wasting no time as they consistently made shots and lay-ups. In fact, the Yeowomen took their biggest lead of the game, 21-12 with 11 minutes remaining in the first half.

Ursuline College began to make their comeback with baskets from guards Rachel Pasquerilla and Katie McCray, and the Arrows only trailed 28-25 with four minutes remaining in the half. The comeback worked, as Ursuline took the lead 32-31 going into the break.

The second half of play was exciting on both ends of the ball. Ursuline’s McCray and Wood continued their excellent shooting as the Arrows went on a 9-0 run with 12:38 remaining in the game.

Oberlin quickly responded to the challenge as junior Jesse Oram, first-year Alyssa Clark and first-year Maggie Casey stepped up. With 30 seconds remaining in the game and Oberlin trailing 56-58, senior Meg Reitz stole the ball off a deflection from Clark, which enabled forward Casey to tie the game at 58-58 with a huge basket.

Ursuline’s last shot attempt failed as the game was sent into overtime. In overtime it was all Oberlin as Clark sunk down four big free throws, giving the squad a 66-63 lead with 16 seconds remaining in overtime.

Ursuline, however, would not go down without a fight, as Whitney Blackburn dropped a big three-pointer with nine seconds left, tying the game at 66 points.

With nine seconds remaining on the clock, Clark hustled down the court and, while driving to the basket, dished it off to Oram, who put the Yeowomen ahead for good, 68-66, with two seconds remaining in the overtime.

Ursuline’s in-bound play failed, as the Yeowomen won a big one.

“I think tonight we showed maturity, and kept our composure,” said first-year guard Kira Rivera.

“I felt that everyone played really well. Just practicing so hard finally paid off,” said Casey.

“I’m extremely excited because we had made a lot of progress in terms of coming together as a team,” said Coach Christa Champion. “I threw a lot of changes at them, and they responded.”

Oram led the Yeowomen with 26 points and 14 rebounds, while Clark finished the game with 17 points and 11 boards. Oberlin is now 1-5 on the season.