CHANDLER, Ariz. – The Roughriders headed south on Saturday afternoon and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as the Yavapai College women's basketball team defeated the Chandler-Gilbert Community College Coyotes 78-71 in overtime to move to 5-5 overall this season and 2-2 in conference play. 

"This was an incredible effort by our kids," Head Coach Gerrard Carmichael said following the win. "We are fighting through some injuries, but our kids fought hard and found a way to get it done today!"

Early in the contest, it was the Coyotes who jumped out to an early lead as Yavapai found itself trailing 14-6 in the early goings. 

That's when freshman guard Saydee Allred caught fire from beyond the arc and pulled the Roughriders back into the game. After knocking down four three-point balls and driving to the basket a couple of times, Allred found herself with 16 points and the Roughriders trailed by just two with a 31-29 score late in the second quarter. 

Chandler-Gilbert grabbed the next couple of baskets and went into the break with a 35-29 lead with YC still looking to come back from the early deficit. 

Unfortunately for the Roughriders, it was the Coyotes, once more, who got a fast start to the half as a 14-8 run gave Chandler-Gilbert a commanding 49-37 lead. 

Lucky for the Roughriders, freshman forward Kishyah Anderson saw that it was her time to get hot with the squad needing a spark. 

Down 12 points, Anderson scored nine of the next 11 points in the contest (the other basket being a made jump shot from freshman guard Hollie Dalton) to pull the Roughriders within one point at 49-48. After a Coyote basket, YC went into the fourth quarter trailing by just three points at 51-48. 

Anderson continued her second-half onslaught in the fourth quarter as she drove to the basket and hit a layup to cut the YC deficit to just 53-50. After a stop on the next possession, freshman forward Tera Smith, after great effort from the Roughriders to collect an offensive rebound, swished a three-pointer to tie the game for the first time since the beginning of the first quarter. 

Later in the period, Allred hit another three pointer to give the Roughriders a narrow 56-55 lead, their first lead since the first minute of the game. 

The Coyotes were relentless, however, and went back and forth with YC every step of the way. Tied at 60-60, Anderson beat the shot clock with a nice move under the basket, however, Chandler-Gilbert responded immediately with a basket of their own to send the game into overtime. 

Knotted up at 62-62 at the start of overtime, Anderson continued her afternoon heroics and quickly hit three baskets to give Yavapai a 68-64 lead to start things off. On the defensive side of the ball, Smith tallied a pair of huge blocks on Coyote shots to keep the advantage with YC. 

As time wound down in overtime, Allred hit another huge three-pointer to give the Roughriders a commanding 71-65 lead and one it would not relinquish for the remainder of the game as YC knocked down its free throws to close things out and run away with the 78-71 victory in an OT thriller. 

Anderson, after having zero points at halftime, led all YC scorers with 30 on the day. Allred's six three pointers propelled her to a 22 point day while Smith also got into double digits with 11 points. The aforementioned Dalton finished with nine points and freshman guard Brooklyn Wiltbank finished with six (four of which were free throws to put the game on ice). 

Up Next
The Roughriders are back in action on Tuesday, December 13, in Phoenix, Arizona, where they will take on the Phoenix College Bears with tipoff scheduled for 5:30 p.m.