Fulton, MO 1/18/2023- The Westminster College women's basketball team took on the Greenville University Panthers on the first day of the spring semester. It would be a wild game inside the Historic Gym accompanied by Fulton High School Pep Band. The game would come down to the wire and Olivia Hixson (Neosho, MO / Neosho) nailed a corner three-pointer to win the game off an assist from Annette Ramirez (Sarcoxie, MO / Sarcoxie). The final score was Blue Jays 69, Panthers 66. The Blue Jays improve to 3-2 in the SLIAC and 9-7 overall. The Panthers suffer their first loss in the SLIAC and fall to 4-1 in the conference; they are 11-5 overall.
Westminster dominated the first quarter, taking an early 20-9 lead and stunning Greenville. In between quarters, the Panthers would regroup and throw a counterpunch. They started the quarter on a 13- 2 run to take the lead 22-20, with six minutes left in the quarter. From there, the game would see 5 ties and 11 lead changes. The Blue Jays took a 31-27 lead going into halftime.
The Panthers started the second half by scoring 8 unanswered points to take a 35-31 lead. They would lead for much of the third quarter until Ramirez made a basket to get the Blue Jays within one point at 47-46 with 16 seconds left in the quarter. The Panthers would come down and shoot a three. They would miss the shot, it was pulled down by Ramirez and she found Caragan Lockard (Eolia, MO / Clopton) hustling down the court she would make a layup at the buzzer to give Westminster a 48-47 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Greenville would get the lead back in the early moments of the fourth quarter at 52-50. Shelby Kurtz (Camdenton, MO/Camdenton) would hit a three to give the lead back to the Jays. Westminster would then string together a couple of threes from Hixson and Ramirez to pull away at 62-57 and force a timeout by the Panthers. Greenville would get to the foul line quite frequently after the timeout and cut into the lead without time running off the clock. They would get the lead back at 65-64 with a minute remaining. Ramirez would score with twenty-six seconds left to give Westminster a 66-65 lead. The Panthers would get fouled on their next possession and head to the foul line with a chance to regain the lead. They would miss the first attempt and make the second attempt to tie the game 66-66. Westminster would call timeout and advance the ball past half-court. The ball would be inbounded to Ramirez. She. She would drive down the middle of the lane and kick the ball out to Hixson in the corner. She would hit the game-winning three with .04 left on the clock. The Panthers would call timeout and get the ball inbounds with so little time on the clock could not get a shot off. The Blue Jays win the game 69-66.
Ramirez finished one point shy of tying her career high, scoring 33 points in tonight's game. She would go 13-19 from the field, 4-8 from three, and 3-5 from the line and had 5 rebounds. Hixson would have 9 nine points and 6 rebounds. Kurtz had 9 points and 10 rebounds. Lockard would have 8 points coming in off the bench.
The Blue Jays will be back in action on Saturday, January 21st when they travel to Louisville, Kentucky to take on the Spalding University Golden Eagles. That game will tip off at 12:00 PM central time.
