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Upstart Emmanuel clips No. 21 Shorter in OT, 95-86
By Matt Green
FRANKLIN SPRINGS, Ga. -- Kaylyn Young scored a season-high 28 points and Emmanuel College scored the first 10 points of the overtime period en route to a 95-86 upset of No. 21-ranked Shorter University in a Southern States Athletic Conference East Division matchup on Saturday afternoon in Franklin Springs, Ga.
Emmanuel's win, its fourth in five games, improves the Lions to 9-10 overall and 4-4 in the SSAC. Emmanuel is now alone in fourth place in the SSAC East Division standings.
The Lady Hawks (12-4, 5-2) have now lost three of five after winning 10 of their first 11 games to open the year. The loss to Emmanuel came despite a career performance by senior point guard Kelly Ellison, who finished with a career-high 29 points while adding seven rebounds and six assists.
The Lions, who saw a 15-point first half lead completely evaporate as Shorter clawed back to take a seven point lead in the latter stages of the second half, simply wore down Shorter in a physical game that witnessed 51 fouls and 68 free throws between the two teams.
Aubany Thomas missed a potential game winner as time expired in regulation, but canned a 3 on Emmanuel's first possession of overtime to ignite a 10-0 run that put the hosts ahead 88-78 with 2:45 remaining.
Foster's 3-pointer with 43.7 seconds left drew Shorter to within four, but Ellison misfired on a trey with Shorter down six just seconds later and Krystyn Young closed out the Lady Hawks by going 6-for-6 from the foul line in the extra session.
Ellison, a two-time All-American, nearly brought Shorter back on her own with some stellar play to open the second half. She scored 27 of her 29 points after halftime and finished 10-for-11 from the foul line before fouling out with seconds left in overtime.
Shorter trailed 38-33 at halftime, but quickly erased that deficit behind a 3-point play and 3-pointer from Ellison and a trey from Robyn Foster. Ellison scored nine points during an 11-0 Shorter run midway through the second stanza that was capped by one of Ellison's three 3-pointers and put Shorter up 60-53 with 9:44 to go.
Emmanuel scored the game's next 11 points and took a 64-60 lead with 7:28 remaining. From that point until the end of regulation, the lead changed hands nearly a dozen times as the team's traded blows to force overtime.
Foster kept Shorter within striking distance in the first half, scoring 11 of her career-high 23 in the opening 20 minutes. The Lady Hawks missed their first eight shots from the floor and turned the ball over seven times in the game's first six minutes. Shorter trailed 14-2 before Emily Trew knocked down a 3 for Shorter's first field goal at the 13:24 mark.
Kaylyn Young, the youngest of the Young sisters, started fast and never let up. By halftime, Young had reached her season average of 14 points and was 6-for-8 from the floor. Young went 9-for-16 on the day and as a team, Emmanuel shot 50 percent in the first half and hit four 3-pointers -- Young, who was a 15 percent 3-point shooter on the year, had made 2 of 3.
Trew finished with eight points -- all in the first half -- and Allison Danner chipped in with seven. The teams shot an identical 28-for-63 (44 percent) for the game, but Emmanuel made 32 of 41 from the foul line while Shorter attempted just 27 foul shots.
Emmanuel placed three players in double figures. Krystyn Young and Caniesha Bell scored 18 and 16 points, respectively, to join Kaylyn Young in double digits.
Shorter stays on the road for another SSAC contest on Monday, Jan. 16, as it travels to Gainesville, Ga., for a 6 pm tip against Brenau.
