Box Score

MOREHEAD, Ky. – Freshman Carlon Chambers sank a pair of free throws with two seconds left in overtime to give NSU a 70-69 victory over Central Arkansas Saturday afternoon in the Comfort Inn & Suites Classic at Ellis T. Johnson Arena at Morehead State.

With the Sugar Bears nursing a one-point lead with 38 seconds left after freshman Rae Corbo's free throw cut the deficit to 69-68, Central Arkansas was unable to convert on the offensive end, and the Spartans quickly went down court. Chambers got the offensive board off a miss by junior Whitney Long with seven seconds to go but had the ball knocked away.

Chambers never gave up on the play, and when the Bears' Sidney Stewart never really got control of the ball, Chambers went diving to the floor and got fouled in the process by Stewart to go to the foul line. She calmly sank both shots from the charity stripe with 2.4 seconds to go, and the Bears could not get the ball down court as NSU held on for the win.

The victory propelled NSU to a 3-0 record for the first time since 1996-97, the Spartans' last year in Division II. The Bears fell to 1-3 on the year.

NSU received strong efforts from sophomores Batavia Owens and Marian Brooks, who each posted double-doubles on the night. Owens had a team-high 14 points and 10 rebounds, while Brooks added 10 points and 10 boards.

Junior Sarah Daily posted 13 points and eight rebounds, while Corbo joined them in double figures with 13 points. Long had a team-high five assists in the victory.

NSU found success under the basket, totaling 40 points in the paint as the Spartans shot 52.9 percent for the game, including 66.7 percent in the first half alone. NSU had a 44-31 advantage on the boards but had to overcome 28 turnovers.

Central Arkansas was led by reigning Southland Conference Player of the Week Megan Herbert with 19 points and nine rebounds, while Destinee Rogers scored 13. Sidney Stewart had a strong game with 11 points, seven assists, five rebounds and three steals.

The Bears hit just 38.5 percent for the game but had a 12-7 advantage in steals and committed just 15 turnovers. Central Arkansas, though, connected on just 12-of-25 free throws, including a pair of misses by Courtney Duever with seven seconds left in regulation and two more by Taylor Westin with 46 seconds to go in the extra period.

After a horrible showing from the free throw line Friday, the Spartans sank 15-of-23 (65.2 percent) for the game.

The Bears got off to a hot start, hitting three of their first four three 3-pointers of the game to take a 9-4 lead, but NSU took it back on the heels of an 11-0 run. Owens put NSU on top during that stretch after grabbing the offensive rebound off a missed free throw by freshman Recca Trice and putting it back for two for an 11-9 NSU lead at 16:09.

Daily made a good spin move for a 15-9 advantage at 14:28, but after Trice got ejected for a flagrant technical at 13:04, the Bears took the lead back on a 9-0 run, as NSU was held scoreless for almost seven minutes. Daily got fouled as she made a jumper from the elbow and completed the three-point play to tie the game at 18-18 with 7:49 left to get NSU its first points since that 14:28 mark.

Owens converted on a pair of baskets as NSU went on an 11-2 run, started on Daily's three-point play, that pushed the NSU advantage to 26-20 with 5:30 left. Corbo drove a wide-open lane at the 3:44 mark, and then sank a pair of free throws for a 30-23 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the half.

NSU went into the break up, 32-27, with Daily accounting for nine points and Brooks adding six rebounds.

Long found Chambers alone at the foul line at the 18:35 mark for the largest lead of the game, 36-27. Chambers sank that jumper and later got the offensive board and the putback for a 40-32 lead.

Good passing between Daily and Long with 13:14 left resulted in a short jumper for Daily from the baseline, but Central Arkansas used a 12-5 run to cut the NSU lead to one at 45-44. A 3-pointer by the Bears tied the score at 47-47, and they took the 49-48 lead on two free throws by Herbert with 8:39 showing on the clock.

With the shot clock about to expire, Brooks hit a layup that seemed to hang on the rim forever before falling in for a 50-49 edge, but the Bears hit two 3-pointers in less than a minute as part of an 8-2 run that made it 57-52 Central Arkansas.

NSU cut the deficit to four on three occasions, and then tied it up at 61-61. Daily got fouled as her shot fell into the rim, and Owens grabbed the offensive board off Daily's free throw miss and immediately scored on the layup with 1:34 left in regulation. Duever missed a pair of free throws with nine seconds left, but Corbo was unable to convert on an off-balance layup as time expired that sent the game into overtime.

Junior Tyisha Bridges gave NSU a 65-61 lead less than a minute into the extra session, but the Bears went on a 6-0 run for a 67-65 advantage with a little more than two minutes remaining. Bridges tied it up at 67-67 on two makes from the charity stripe with 1:53 to go, but Rice drove the lane for the basket to put Central Arkansas up, 69-67.

Corbo hit 1-of-2 free throws with 38 seconds left to cut the deficit to 69-68, as NSU sank 7-of-8 free throws in overtime, including the winning pair by Chambers, for the victory.

NSU will wrap up the tournament Sunday at 3:30 p.m. against host Morehead State.