CARTERVILLE, Ill. — The Lady Raiders were dreadful at the charity stripe, and free throws is what won them the game Tuesday night. Three Rivers College shot 43 percent from the free-throw line against John A. Logan College, 9 for 21. The final two made free throws gave the Lady Raiders one final lead and they won in overtime 66-64.
Three Rivers (11-2) was down four with 2 minutes to play and tied it up after buckets by DeNayia Holmes and Ge'Naisha Robinson, both off assists by Markeia Porter who led Three Rivers with four. The Lady Volunteers (6- 5) missed a 3, but grabbed the offensive rebounds with 34 seconds to go, missed another jumper and Joya Smith grabbed her sixth rebound with a dozen seconds left. Camdyn McDaniel, who led Three Rivers with 17 points off the bench, sank a jumper with 4 seconds to go to put the Lady Raiders in front for the first time since the beginning of the fourth quarter. Three Rivers had two fouls to give and used them to milk time off the clock. Holmes tried to foul Logan's leading scorer Tiaunna Watkins in the final seconds, but Watkins managed to get a shot off.
Watkins stepped to the free-throw line, down two with 0.2 on the clock and sank both fee throws to force overtime. In the 5-minute extra frame, Holmes got a steal and a layup to give Three Rivers the fi rst lead. The Lady Volunteers responded with a pair of free throws while Three Rivers missed four straight shots. After a block by Robinson, Holmes sank a jumper to tie the game with a minute to go, then got a quick steal. McDaniel missed a shot off the turnover, but Robinson grabbed the offensive rebound, was fouled on the putback and went 1 for 2. Three Rivers held at the other end and ran down the shot clock before Smith drew another foul and also went 1 for 2. With 2 seconds left, Watkins, who fi nished with 38 points and was 10 for 12 at the free-throw line, missed the front end of a one-andone and time ran out on the rebound. "Watkins can flat play," Three Rivers coach Jeff Walk said. "We have a hard time guarding the other team's best player, but we're guarding the rest of them really well. So I don't know how that equates."
Three Rivers will enter 2017 on a nine-game winning streak. Its two losses were both by three points to Wabash Valley. "We're still going to have to come back after Christmas break and get to work," Walk said. "We've taken the approach that you can enjoy the win until you walk out the door of the gym. Then it is time to move on."