EMORY, Va. – Host Emory and Henry canned 3-pointers on consecutive possessions midway through the third overtime Saturday afternoon to outlast Shenandoah 87-82 in ODAC women's basketball action.
The three-overtime game is the longest for Shenandoah (2-4, 0-1 ODAC) in the past 20 years.
Hornets sophomore Kirstyn Arcata did all she could to keep her squad in it, pouring in a career-high 36 points on 12 of 23 shooting from the field and 5 of 6 from the line.
Arcata was 7 for 11 from behind the arc, tying a program record for 3-pointers in the process. She ties the mark first set by Shirley Gray '95 in 1994 and tied by Deanna Estes '98 in 1996.
Arcata's final 3-pointer, with 1:31 remaining, cut the SU deficit to 79-78, but the Hornets were unable to get any closer.
In the last 91 seconds, Shenandoah missed a pair of field goal attempts and turned the ball over one time.
Arcata was able to extend the game into a second OT by making a four-point play with two seconds left in the initial extra session. After hitting a '3' and being fouled, she calmly sank the ensuing free throw to knot the contest at 66-66.
In the second OT, it was the Wasps (6-0, 2-0) turn to rally in the waning moments. With SU on top 74-72 following a Kanesha Foster layup at the 16-second mark, E&H got an Asja Jenkins baseline layup with 1.1 seconds showing to send the game into the third five-minute overtime.
Emory & Henry, which took the lead for good on a Megan Jacoby 3-pointer with 3:05 left, made two of its final four attempts from the charity stripe to seal the victory.
SU shot 38 percent for the game to 40 percent for the Wasps with E&H outrebounding the Hornets 56-41 and scoring 27 of the 45 points scored off of turnovers.
The game was tied on 16 occasions and the two teams traded the lead eight times.
Shannon Kuhn backed up Arcata with 24 points and Foster had 10. Five women: Arcata, Kuhn, Foster, Erin French and Olivia Callan, all played at least 44 minutes with Arcata playing 55 and Callan 54.
"We left it all on the floor tonight," Shenandoah coach Melissa Smeltzer-Kraft said. "That was a great battle against a great team tonight. We are starting to play at the level I know we are capable of playing."
The women complete their long road trip to start the season on Wednesday with a 7 p.m. non-league contest at Gettysburg.
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