Women's Basketball Snares Opening Night Win at the Buzzer

LIMA, OH - UNOH women's basketball had to climb out of a 23-point hole against Ohio Christian on opening night, but the Racers fought back in the final stanza to steal the win at the buzzer, 89-88.

The game went back and forth early on with the teams matching each other, 17-17, after the first quarter. Quarter two followed the same trend but the Racers went on a 6-2 run to end the half to hold a slight advantage at the break, 42-40.

The third quarter belonged to the Trailblazers exploding on a 17-0 run to start the second half for their largest lead of the game 57-42 with 7:08 left in the frame. Ohio Christian maintained their cushion throughout the quarter thanks to in large part to 78% shooting from outside hitting seven of nine attempts.

Up against the wall, UNOH trailed by 21 points to start the final stanza but stayed composed and cut the lead to just five before giving up a point. The Racers kept chipping away to pull within a possession, 76-74, before the Trailblazers responded to increase the lead back to seven with 71 seconds left to play. UNOH scored the next seven points to tie the game 87-87 with just seven seconds remaining. Ohio Christian drew a foul with a chance to take the lead but split two free throws setting up a final chance for UNOH steal the night with 6.6 seconds on the clock. After a timeout, Racer head coach Matt Vavro drew up the right play that created a close range shot for Ameena Muhammad. Muhammad left her first attempt short but grabbed her own rebound and put it back as the buzzer sounded to give UNOH the dramatic victory, 89-88.

After being outscored 34-11 in the third, the Racers returned the favor in the fourth outscoring the Trailblazers 36-14. 

"I'm super proud of this team for being so resilient tonight," stated Vavro after the game. "They never gave up and continued to fight and believe in one another. Koons was on fire tonight for them and to weather that storm was a great way to start the season."

For Ohio Christian, Emma Koons finished with a game high 37 points and ten rebounds hitting 8-11 (73%) three-point attempts while going 14-23 (61%) from the field. But UNOH held her to just five points in the fourth quarter and 2-7 (29%) from the field.

"Our crowd was unbelievable tonight," continued Vavro, "and their energy helped our team back when we needed it most. That means a lot to us."

Alysia Lawson paced the Racers with 29 points grabbing six rebounds with two assists and a steal. Lawson's performance also pushed her over the 1,000 point plateau for her career (1,025), becoming just the fifth Racer to accomplish that feat. Along with the game winning basket, Ameena Muhammad scored 15 points in her UNOH debut with seven boards, two assists and a blocked shot. Ana Montero Sanz was good all around for the Racers finishing with twelve points, eight assists and six rebounds. Jayci Allen added eleven points and Alayha Allen chipped in eight off the bench. A. Allen also matched the team high with seven rebounds filling all the stat columns with two assists, two blocks, and a steal.

UNOH shot 50% as a team holding the Trailblazers to 41% while winning the battle of the boards 44-41.

The Racers will end the week on the road taking on IU-East on Saturday at 5:00 PM.