PALOS HEIGHTS, Ill. -- Le'lani Harris put up 22 points and Tykara Harrison continued her scoring frenzy with 12 as the University of St. Francis women's basketball team collected a 74-70 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference overtime victory over Trinity Christian College at the DeVos Gymnasium on Tuesday night.  The victory improves St. Francis' record to 7-1 overall and a perfect 2-0 in league play.  The Trolls drop to 0-7 on the season and 0-2 in the CCAC.

An early run of six straight points put Trinity Christian up 7-2 and the Trolls held that lead the remainder of the first quarter in taking a 19-18 edge into the second period.  St. Francis, however, came out of the break on fire, sinking two three-pointers and a layup to string together nine straight points in the first three minutes of the second stanza.  Eight turnovers and poor defense allowed Trinity to stay in the game, however, with 10 of 11 TCC second-quarter points coming off fast break layups and foul shots.  The Saints shot at just a .297 clip (11-of-37) over the first 20 minutes of play with five of their field goals coming from long range to take a 33-30 lead into the intermission.

St. Francis would expand its lead by its largest margin of seven points (49-42) with just over two minutes remaining in the third quarter.  Turnovers would continue to plague the Saints, though, as Trinity Christian would regain a two-point advantage in the beginning of the fourth quarter with steals resulting in TCC points.  After two successful USF free throws evened the game at 51-51 with 8:40 remaining in regulation, both teams would swap one-point leads resulting in seven lead changes before a three-pointer from Harris gave the Saints a four-point advantage at 63-59.  Trinity would respond with the next five points to take the lead back at 64-63 with two minutes remaining on the clock.  USF then missed on four free throws to either tie the game or take the lead back over the next minute before finally connecting on one of two attempts with 50 seconds to play to force a 64-64 tie and send the game into the extra period.

St. Francis came out of the gate strong in overtime, collecting eight of the period's first 10 points.  USF shot just 20 percent from the field and 50 percent from the charity stripe during the extra period, but the Saints did not turn the ball over a single time compared to Trinity's four miscues.  That allowed St. Francis to capture six fast-break points in the frame to secure the 74-70 win.

Trinity Christian finished the contest converting at just over a 40 percent clip (25-of-62, .403), while hitting at a 12.5 percent rate from three-point range (1-of-8) and going 19-for-30 at the free-throw line (.633).  The Saints finished the night at .271 overall (23-of-85) and converted just 7-of-37 three-point attempts (18.9 percent), while going 21-of-37 on free throws (.568).

St. Francis also held the rebounding advantage 58-51, which resulted in a 17-8 point differential on second-chance opportunities.

Harris' 22 points came on 6-of-24 shooting from the field.  She also contributed 10 rebounds and three steals.  Harrison scored in double figures for the sixth time this season and added a game-high eight assists and nine rebounds.  Baylei Johnson and Laurelei Thormeyer also posted double-digit scoring efforts with their 11- and 10-point contributions, respectively.

Trinity Christian's Amena Alexander led all Troll scorers  with 19 points.  She was one of three TCC players to come off the bench to net 39 points for her squad.

Up Next
The Saints are on the road again on Thursday, Dec. 5 when they travel to Normal, Ill. to face Illinois State University for an 11 am tipoff.  The game will be an exhibition contest.

You can keep up with everything happening around USF Athletics on X @USFSaints.