CLINTON, Miss. --- The Mississippi College women's basketball team snapped a five-game slide in the series as it pulled away from Valdosta State University in overtime, 73-65. MC improved to 9-4 on the season and 5-2 in Gulf South Conference action.
 
The Blue and Gold erased a 14-point deficit in the game, including down by as many as 11 in the fourth quarter, to gain its first win in the series since Feb. 13, 2020.
 
Tytiana Buckley paced a quartet of Choctaws in double figures with 24 points – one shy of her career high set against Auburn University at Montgomery on Dec. 16.
 
Tiara Abron added 18 points, Amelia Bell chimed in 11 and Keller Bigham provided 10 points. Bell led the unit on the glass with six rebounds. Buckley and Bigham supplied five each to help the squad grab 30 in the contest.
 
Buckley scored the first bucket of the overtime period and the Choctaws never looked back. The lead swelled to 70-62 in the stanza. MC grabbed its largest lead of the game at 73-64 as Abron connected on a pair of free throws with 22 seconds remaining.  
 
MC led by one point at the end of the first 10 minutes, but a 16-1 start in the second set sparked a strong period as the Red and Black led 36-26 at the intermission. VSU outscored the Blue and Gold 19-8 in the period and maintained a double-digit lead thru much of the third.
 
The Choctaws narrowed the margin to single digits to conclude the third quarter, but the Red and Black extended the lead back to 11 points, 50-39, with 8:19 remaining in regulation. MC chipped away and made the contest a one-possession game with 1:37 left in the fourth. The Choctaws tied the game twice over the last 19 seconds of regulation.
 
MC shot 44.4 percent from the field and was 20-of-27 from the free-throw line for 74.1 percent, including 9-for-10 in the extra stanza.
 
Mississippi College returns to action on Saturday, January 4 as it hosts the University of West Florida. Tip-off is at 2 p.m.