FROSTBURG, Md. – The Yellow Jackets fended off an upset attempt by the Frostburg State Bobcats to take a road win on Wednesday night 88-79. The Bobcats hit a late jumper from behind the arc to force the game into overtime, where WVSU put the pesky Bobcats away.

State claimed their third straight victory to improve to 5-1, 2-1 in conference play while Frostburg State fell to 2-5, 1-2 in the Mountain East.

The game got off to a rough start for WVSU as the Jackets were assessed an administrative technical foul before the opening tip for not having their starters in the scorebook in time. Frostburg sunk both free throws and State fell behind by two before the game even tipped off.

State did get the opening tip, but Imani Reid missed the opening shot. State went on a rapid 5-0 run to take their first lead of the contest, only for Frostburg to score six unanswered of their own, forcing a Charles Marshall timeout at the apex of the run. Coming out of the timeout, State scored eight unanswered on the back of a Destiny Fields layup to take the 13-10 lead. The two teams then traded baskets for the rest of the period. The Yellow Jackets led 26-22 at the end of the period. Both teams shot better then 40% from the field, with State holding a slight edge at 47%. 

Frostburg State opened the second period with a 5-0 run to retake the lead, but that lead was short-lived when Caroline Scott hit a fast break layup, 28-27. WVSU's defense forced four Bobcat turnovers for the rest of the quarter, and only allowed one more Bobcat field goal to give State the 38-33 lead heading into the locker room. 

Caroline Scott began the scoring for the Yellow Jackets in the third quarter, followed by another Fields layup to extend the lead to seven. Both teams went on an almost two minute scoring drought with just Hannah Shriver pocketing a pair of foul shots. A floater from Frostburg cut the lead to five at the 5:45 mark, but then Anysa Jordan hit the Yellow Jackets first trey of the game with 5:32 to go in the period, re-extending the lead to eight points, 51-43. Frostburg went on an 8-3 run to bring the State lead to only three points, but State ended the last three minutes of the quarter on a 10-6 run to end the quarter with State up seven points. State shot 58 percent from the field, but committed nine fouls, allowing Frostburg to sink 10-of-12 from the free throw line.

State took over three minutes to finally get on the board in the fourth quarter, a Latifat Olantunji layup at the 6:47 mark. Luckily, Frostburg had much of the same scoring troubles, managing just one bucket in the intervening time. Frostburg State then went on a 11-4 scoring run to tie the game up at 70-all with 2:44 to go. Russell hit a foul shot, followed by a Fortenberry free throw and then another Russell foul shot to push the lead to three with 20 seconds to go. Frostburg hit a trey with 8.3 seconds showing on the clock to tie it up again. State called timeout to advance the ball, but couldn't get a shot off before the horn sounded, sending the game into the first overtime session of the season for both teams. State only managed to make two field goals in the quarter, both layups with the other five points coming from the charity stripe.

The extra period was a stalemate until the two minute mark when a game-tying Frostburg trey was answered by an immediate Fields bomb to put the Jackets up by three with just over two minutes left. State never relinquished the lead and hit foul shots down the stretch to give WVSU the nine point victory. 

Fields collected her first double-double of the season, scoring 31 points and collecting 12 boards. Fields was just two points shy of matching her career high but it was the most points scored by her since Jan. 27, 2021 against West Liberty when she hit 33. Shriver and Russell contributed 10 points each. Shriver was one assist shy of her first double-double of the season. Anysa Jordan was saddled with foul trouble for most of the second half, charged with her fourth with five minutes to go in the third before finally fouling out in the fourth quarter. She was limited to seven points in just 15 minutes of action.

State shot 40.3 percent from the field while Frostburg State shot 35.6 percent. 

Up Next
State returns to the Walker Convocation Center on Saturday, Dec. 3 for a 2:00 pm contest against Fairmont State. Fairmont State knocked off Charleston earlier Wednesday, 78-71.