The Blinn College women’s basketball team punched its ticket to the Region XIV Tournament championship with a thrilling 75-70 overtime victory over top-seeded Angelina College on Friday in Tyler, Texas.
The Buccaneers (23-9) outscored the Roadrunners 11-6 in the five-minute overtime period to earn a third consecutive appearance in the region tournament title game.
Fourth-seeded Blinn defeated top-seeded Angelina for the third time this season despite not playing its best basketball.
“We survived and advanced,” Blinn head coach Jeff Jenkins said. “We shot 57 percent from the free-throw line and had 27 turnovers, but we found a way to win. The toughness these players have shown all season has truly been amazing. There is no quit in these ladies.”
The two teams traded leads at the end of the first two quarters, with the Roadrunners up 13-10 and the end of the opening period before the Buccaneers jumped ahead 31-24 at halftime.
Angelina rallied to tie the game at 49-all in the third period and the teams remained deadlocked at 64-64 when regulation ended.
Blinn and Angelina traded just a handful of buckets through the first three and a half minutes of the OT period and were tied at 68 when freshman guard Chelsy Singleton pulled down a rebound in traffic and turned it into a layup while drawing a foul. She converted the subsequent free throw for a 71-68 lead and the Bucs held on from there.
Freshman guards Wynter Jones and Jonesha Neal led the Blinn offensive with 17 and 16 points, respectively, freshman forward Tocarra Johnson tallied 13 points and 16 rebounds, and Singleton added 10. Jones also had six rebounds, five assists, and a pair of steals. Sophomore guard Tianna Mathis posted seven points and seven rebounds, and Singleton also had seven boards.
Up next for the Bucs is a rematch with 12th-ranked Trinity Valley Community College with an automatic berth in the NJCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship tournament on the line. The game begins at 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 16, in Tyler
