Marshall’s Roshala Scott (2) moves the ball up center court as the Marshall University women’s basketball team takes on Chattanooga on Dec. 21, at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington.
Marshall’s Roshala Scott (2) moves the ball up center court as the Marshall University women’s basketball team takes on Chattanooga on Dec. 21, at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington.
HUNTINGTON — The Marshall women’s basketball team opened league play with a bang.
The Herd earned its first true road win of the year as Roshala Scott made a pull-up jumper with two seconds left in overtime to give Marshall a 63-61 victory over South Alabama Jaguars on Thursday night.
“They hit the bank to get it to overtime and that was a big shot,” head coach Tony Kemper said of the Jaguars, who eliminated a seven point deficit at the end of regulation to extend the game.
“Ro hit a huge shot to give us the lead and you have to find one stop in a game like that we finally did,” Kemper added.
The bucket completed Scott’s stat line, who finished with 19 points, six rebounds and two assists in the win. Her effort was bested by teammate Abby Beeman who logged a game-high 20 points and capped a double-double performance by adding 12 rebounds.
The Herd turned a 3-point deficit into a 32-26 halftime lead in Mobile, Alabama, but then surrendered that lead and trailed by a point entering the fourth quarter, 42-41.
“We came up with some really big stops,” Kemper said. “They obviously came out of halftime really well so we needed to reset ourselves, did that, and countered back.”
Scott made a pair of free throws that gave the Herd a 45-44 lead and they never trailed again, though South Alabama came back to tie the game multiple times in the fourth quarter and overtime.
The Herd outrebounded the Jaguars 49-40. Tristen Washington led South Alabama with 11 points and Nadia Howard and Jordan Rosier each chipped in 10.
The victory moved Marshall to 8-4 overall and 1-0 in league play as it continues a two-game road swing with a Saturday contest at Appalachian State, who defeated Old Dominion 81-55 on Thursday night.
Luke Creasy is a reporter for The Herald-Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @LukeCreasy or reach him by phone at 304-526-2800.
