UNOH Upsets SHU in Overtime Thriller to Advance to WHAC Semis

ADRIAN, MI - For the second time in four days, UNOH and Siena Heights needed overtime to decide a winner on the hardwood as the two squared off in the WHAC Quarterfinals Wednesday night. The Saints managed to edge out a victory in the regular season finale last Saturday, but the second time around belonged to the Racers as they held SHU to just five points in the overtime period and earned a place in the WHAC Semifinals with a 74-66 win. It is the program's first ever post season victory in their second appearance in three years under head coach Matt Vavro.

It was tough sledding for both teams early on as they combined for just seven points more than six minutes into the game. The final three and a half minutes of the first quarter tripled that production as the two settled in and Siena Heights held a 13-9 advantage going into the second. The Saints managed to increase the lead to six, their largest of the game, to start the quarter but a 10-2 Racer spurt put them back on top 20-18 with 4:30 left before halftime. The team's went toe-to-toe the rest of the frame trading shots until finally resting on a 26-25 UNOH lead going into the break.

Momentum swung violently back and forth in the third before the teams landed right back where they started the quarter with a one-point Racer advantage, 40-39. The heavy weight bout spilled over into the final stanza with both teams on fire combining to hit 56% from the field and a blistering 60% from three-point with nothing to separate the two in a 58-58 game with 1:16 left in regulation. The Racers missed a couple chances to get in front, including a big blocked shot that gave the ball back to the Saints, but their go ahead three-point attempt fell short and gave UNOH one more chance to steal the win with 12 seconds to play. On the final offensive set, Alysia Lawson banged home a heavily contested three-pointer with five seconds to go that looked like the game winner. Siena Heights couldn't find space to create a good shot for a chance to tie the game but managed to fire off a prayer that was answered at the buzzer sending the game into overtime tied at 61.

The Saints took the first lead of the extra period on their first offensive possession, but a quick long range answer came again from Lawson that put the Racers back in front for a final time. From there, UNOH increased their defensive pressure and completely shut down the Siena Heights offense holding them to just 1-10 from the field the rest of the way while scoring nine of their 13 points from outside the arc and knocking down all four free throw attempts to ice the game.

Alysia Lawson led all scorers with 27 points on the night shooting 8-21 from the field, 4-6 from outside and 7-10 from the charity stripe while matching her season best with seven rebounds. Jayci Allen posted 22 points on 7-13 shooting falling short of her tenth double-double by one rebound with two assists and two blocks. Olivia Thompson also logged two blocks chipping in ten points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal. Alayha Allen matched her season best with a game high twelve rebounds while also recording a season high four blocks.

As a team, UNOH finished with nine total blocks which ties for the second most in program history and the team's most in a game since 2016. The Racers shot 41% from the field and 47.6% from three-point range as a team, the program's best in the Vavro Era and it's highest percentage since February 2, 2022 (52.9%). After losing the rebound battle by 15 to SHU on Saturday, UNOH turned the advantage around by 18 Wednesday to take the boards 41-38.

Upsets were on the menu Wednesday night as seventh-seed Lourdes also knocked off second-seed Aquinas, 62-61, which sets up a semifinal showdown in The Garage between the Racers and the Gray Wolves Friday night. It is just the second time UNOH will host a post season game in program history, and first since 2009, with tipoff scheduled for 6:00 PM and a trip to the WHAC Championship on the line.