CLAREMORE, Okla. - The Rogers State women's basketball team opened its home Heartland Conference slate with a thrilling, 73-68, overtime victory over Texas A&M International at the Claremore Expo Thursday evening.
 
With the win, the Hillcats snapped the Dustdevils' three-game conference winning streak. Neither team led by double digits in the contest with the score knotted nine times featuring 10 lead changes.  The Dustdevils took their largest lead of the contest with two made free throws by Jessica Woo to push the lead to six points with 6:16 to play.
 
The Hillcats clawed their way to the overtime period outscoring TAMIU 12-6 over the final six minutes to send the game into the extra period. Trailing by three, Kami Bunch converted a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to one. The Dustdevils committed one of their few turnovers in the game on the next possession and RSU capitalized, taking a one-point lead with Jordan Evans converting a layup. Clinging to a one-point lead, the Hillcats committed a foul that led to Alexis Thomas converting the front side of her double-bonus free throws to tie the game with 13 seconds to play.
 
Mikaila Newton opened overtime with a trey from the left corner to give RSU the early advantage. The Hillcats clung to a single-digit lead for the entire overtime period. The teams traded buckets before Bunch made it a five-point game with a jumper. Thomas cut the TAMIU deficit to four with a made free throw with 53 seconds to play but Bunch matched her attempt at the charity strip to give the Cats a five-point cushion with 15 seconds to play. Keiona Mathews grabbed the rebound off the missed free throw attempt and took it the length of the court for a layup to cut the RSU lead to three points. The Dustdevils were forced to foul with five seconds to play and Stacia Payne drained a pair at the free throw line to seal the win.
 
The lead seesawed throughout the first stanza. After the score was knotted for the fourth time in the frame, Jalissa Felici drained a trey from the right wing giving RSU a three-point lead. Back-to-back layups from Evans and Payne pushed the Hillcat lead to five points with eight minutes to play.  TAMIU used a 13-3 run to take a five point lead of its own with four and a half minutes to go in the period. RSU cut the deficit to four points but Jessica Prieto closed the half with a layup to make it a six point game at intermission.
 
Evans led the Hillcats in scoring with 17 points, her season-high. Newton added 13 points and Amari Jones tallied 11 points to round out the double-digit scorers. Keiona Mathews led all scorers with 22 points for the Dustdevils.
 
Rogers State (3-9, 1-3 HC) returns to action Saturday as the Hillcats host St. Mary's at the Claremore Expo. Tipoff is scheduled 1 p.m. and live video is available on the Hillcat Network at www.rsuhillcats.com/live. Live audio is also available on RSU Radio at 91.3 FM.