Hornets Drop Heartbreaker in Overtime

After an early 16-6 Kalamazoo run, the Bulldogs of Adrian College battled back with a 25-3 run of their own to take a 31-19 lead with five minutes remaining in the first half. Once the run was stopped by a Nyemade Cooper free throw, the Hornets subbed 5 players into the game that gave them an immediate spark the resulted in a 6-0 Hornet run. It was the most crucial stretch for the Hornets as they cut the halftime lead from double digits to 6 points.

Early in the second half, the Bulldogs came out running. They eventually extended their 6 point lead to 13, but the Hornets showed the most fight all season battling back and leading the game by 4 with just over three minutes remaining. The Bulldogs came down the floor with 90 seconds remaining in the game to hit a three from deep behind the three point arc to cut the Hornet lead to 1. With :25 second left, the Bulldogs drained a corner three point shot to take a 66-64 lead. With the ball and time ticking, the Hornets called a timeout to set up a play for Senior Nyemade Cooper. The ball was entered into Cooper and after two shot misses and rebounds, Cooper tied the game at 66 with 5 seconds remaining. The Bulldogs had no timeouts, and missed a desperation three from half court that would have won the game.

In the overtime session, from the tip, the Bulldogs began to pull away. A broken set play off the tip by the Hornets seemed to deflate the momentum, ultimately breaking the spirits as the Bulldogs outscored the Hornets 14-4 in overtime.

Nyemade Cooper led the Hornets with 20 points and 12 rebounds on 5 of 13 shooting from the field and 10 of 13 from the free throw line. Junior Courtney Kaplan had a standout performance as well contributing 14 points and 6 assists in 42 minutes. Sophomore Kelsey Johnson pulled down a career high 9 rebounds and added 10 points in 36 minutes, also a career high. Freshman Lauren Rosenthal gave the Hornets a spark off the bench with 9 points and a crucial three point from the top of the arc with just under 3 minutes remaining in the game that tied the game at 61. Sophomore Carly Zeitlin added 8 points and 6 rebounds in just 26 minutes. The 70 points scored by the Hornets was the most points scored as a team this season. Kalamazoo shot 41.3% from the field and 30.4% from three point range. Of the 26 Kalamazoo field goals, 16 were on assists. The turnover bug continues to bite the Hornets as they had 29 giveaways which led to 29 Bulldog points.

Senior Nyemade Cooper is now just 19 points away from becoming the 5th player in Kalamazoo Women's Basketball history to have 1000 points and 500 rebounds. Cooper has 12 games to accomplish the feat and is currently 4 points shy of reaching the top 10 in Kalamazoo history in scoring and just 48 points shy of cracking the top 8 in all-time scoring at Kalamazoo. Cooper has also moved up since the start of the year from 6th to 4th in rebounding and is only 6 rebounds shy of 2005 graduate Ashley Riley of becoming the 3rd greatest rebounder in Kalamazoo history. Among Coopers many records, she still holds a number of single game records at Kalamazoo such as most rebounds in a single game (22), free throws made (15), and free throws attempted (23).

The Hornets take their show to the road Saturday against NAIA opponent Robert Morris University (Chicago). The game is on the campus of Loyola Chicago University. The Hornets dropped an early season showdown between the teams by a score of 83-56. 31 Kalamazoo turnovers led to 31 Robert Morris points in the November 24th contest. Tip-off is set for 12:00 central standard time.