Senior Olivia Besancon erupted a career-high 36 points to lift the Muskingum women's basketball team past John Carroll 103-97 in triple overtime in their Ohio Athletic Conference opener Saturday afternoon in the Anne C. Steele Center. 

The Basics

• Records: Muskingum (2-2 overall, 1-0 OAC), John Carroll (2-3 overall, 0-1 OAC)
• Location: New Concord, Ohio – Anne C. Steele Center

Inside the Numbers

• Muskingum has never gone into triple overtime in the history of the program.
• Five Muskies achieved double-digit scoring.  
• Besancon exploded for a career-best 36 points on 10-of-20 shooting, which included hitting 5-of-8 from behind the arc. She also added a career-high nine rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
• Senior Alexandra Carson registered a career-high 23 points, six rebounds, and four steals.
• Junior Dana Parkman notched her first double-double of the season, finishing with 13 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
• Caitlyn Smith collected 12 points, four steals and three rebounds.
• Kacie Leppla led the reserves with 12 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
• Muskingum shot .395 (32-of-81) from the floor and made a season-best 32 free throws.
• The Muskies held a 54-52 edge in rebounds.
• Nicole Heffington led John Carroll with 17 points, while Chelbi Graham ended the contest with a double-double, 21 points, 10 rebounds.
• The Blue Streaks shot .448 (39-of-87) from the floor and .259 (7-of-27) from the arc.

Game Highlights

In the first four minutes of play, Muskingum came out and notched a 16-4 run and sustained the momentum until the end of the first quarter leading, 27-17. The Blue Streaks tested the Muskies in the second quarter as they got within seven, 40-33, with four minutes remaining in the half. John Carroll closed out the second quarter scoring seven straight points to cut Muskingum's lead, 42-40, at intermission.

The second half was a much different story than the first half as it consisted of 10 ties and 13 lead changes with John Carroll taking their first lead of the game at the 8:35 marker, 43-42 in the third quarter. The score at the end of the third was a 59-59 deadlock. In the fourth frame, John Carroll held the four point advantage, 72-68, with 3:25 left on the clock. Carson made jumper to cut the deficit, 72-70, with 2:08 remaining. In the final minutes, both teams missed contested shots, but Parkman came through for the Muskies as she connected on a layup with two seconds left to put the game into overtime, 72-72.  

The Muskies started the first overtime on a 6-2 run leading, 78-74, with 3:42 on the clock. The Blue Streaks tied the game up at 81-81 off of a pair of made free throws from Abby Adler with 46 seconds remaining, forcing MU to call a timeout. After the timeout, Smith made a layup to put Muskingum back ahead, but JC marched down the court to score, making it 83-83 with 23 seconds left. John Carroll took the last shot as time expired, but couldn't connect, forcing the second overtime.

The second overtime was much like the first, with many back-and-forth scoring and lead changes, but this time, the Muskies tied the game at 90-90 off a layup from Besancon with 39 seconds left. John Carroll had an opportunity to take the lead with 15 seconds, but missed the layup. Parkman grabbed the rebound and drove into the lane for a layup with one second remaining, but missed, forcing the third overtime.

Neither team scored in the first two minutes of the third overtime until Dani Carlson changed that at the 3:49 marker which sparked a 5-0 run for JC. The Muskies then went on their own 6-0 run to lead, 96-95, with under two minutes of action. The visitors regained the lead, 97-96, off a layup from Gabrielle Gevaudan with 1:43 on the clock. After that, Muskingum went on to register seven straight points to come away with the grueling 103-97 victory over John Carroll.

Up Next

• Muskingum will travel to Columbus to take on Capital on Thursday, December 7, for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off