Laurinburg, NC – The CIU women's basketball team traveled up I-95 Wednesday night take on the Knights of St. Andrews University. St. Andrews(1-3) entered the contest coming off a loss to Bryan College while CIU (2-2) came into the evening off a loss to Tennessee Wesleyan. Both sides were looking to find traction in the early stages of the Appalachian Athletic Conference schedule; the Rams would do just that knocking off the Knights 79-78 in overtime.

How It Happened: 

1st Half SAU 42 -32The Knights would start the first quarter on a 15-0 run, and the Rams would not get on the board until just before the 6:00 minute mark on a basket by Keniah Watkins. However, the Rams would outscore St. Andrews 17-9 the rest of the way through the quarter to trail 24-19 at the end of the first.

CIU would start the second quarter off with three-pointer by Kiara Austin, cutting the Knight's advantage to 4. A 9-0 run by the St. Andrews would push their lead to 13, but Jordan Spruiell would help the Rams keep pace scoring inside and knocking down two free throws. The Knights would continue to try and take control of the game, but 6 straight from Keniah Watkins would keep the Rams within 10 at the half, 42-32.

2nd Half CIU 79 SAU 78: Kiara Austin started the second half with a deep three to chisel into the Knight lead 42-35. However, the Knights would lead by as much as 12 during the quarter until scores inside from Queeneka Howard and Tiona Walls helped the Rams cut the lead to 6 going into the fourth.

The Rams would trail throughout the fourth quarter but slowly inch closer to the Knights, and a Jordan Sprueill field goal would cut the lead to just 4-points, 71-67. After the Rams and Knights exchanged free throws, CIU would trail with 72-69 with 30 seconds remaining, Keniah Watkins would come up big on the Rams final possession of regulation drilling a three to send the game into overtime.

Brittany Brown and Watkins would lead the Rams in overtime, and solid play on the defensive end would give the Rams the 79-78 win.

Game Notes:

• Sophomore Keniah Watkins scored a career-high 35 points on 5-8 shooting from three-point range, including the game-tying three in regulation.  
• Queeneka Howard scored 12 points and pulled in 7 rebounds.
• The Rams bench outscored the Knights bench a whopping 46-16.

Up Next 

The Rams host Kentucky Christian University, Saturday, November 16th at 2 PM.