HIRAM, Ohio - November 5, 2021 – Behind a career-high 34 points from senior Madison Branch, Hiram women's basketball topped the Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets, 89-83, in overtime in their 2021-22 season opener in Price Gymnasium on Friday.
 
Brooke Fuller scored the opening points of the season for the Yellow Jackets, before TT Wright put their Terriers' on the board, knotting the score up at 2-2 with 9:10 remaining in the first.
 
Taking advantage of a few Hiram fouls, the Yellow Jackets quickly built up a 10-2 with an 8-0 run, before Cici Brights' two free throws cut the Waynesburg lead to six, 10-4, with 7:28 left in the quarter.
 
Hiram pulled within four on Iyana Smith's triple, and with just under four minutes left in the first, Branch scored her first of a career-high 34, evening the score at 13-all with a jumper off Maddie Rakestraw's assist.
 
From there, the two sides traded buckets the rest of the bucket, with Fuller's two-point layup with five seconds to play giving Waynesburg a 21-19 lead after one.
 
Waynesburg pushed their lead out to six to start the second on Kacey Kastroll's jumper, but with an 11-0 run, Hiram took their first lead of the quarter. Six-straight points by Branch evened the score at 25-all, Smith then gave Hiram a 27-25 lead with 5:58 to play in the quarter before Branch added four more to make it a 31-25 lead.
 
Smith's made free throw made it an 11-0 run, and a 32-25 lead for the Terriers, before Anika Dansby slowed the run with two free throws of her own.
 
The Yellow Jackets though, clawed their way back, taking a three-point lead on a pair of layups by Leighton Croft with under a minute to play, and two free throws by Claire Frazier evened the score at 38-all heading into the halftime break.
 
Coming out of the break, the two sides went back and forth for much of the third, with neither Hiram nor Waynesburg able to build much of a lead.
 
Branch's jumper and two free throws by Bright made it 59-56 Hiram with 47 seconds left in the third, but Avery Robinson hit a three-pointer to again tie the score at 59 heading to the fourth.
 
After Waynesburg picked up the first bucket of the fourth, Hiram made a run, pulling out to a 74-67 lead with a 13-6 run, finished off by Haley Thompson's layup with 4:55 to play.
 
Robinson's three-pointer made it 74-70, but Branch knocked down another three, one of her four makes, to make it a 77-70 ballgame.
 
A 7-0 Waynesburg run though, again tied the score, this time at 77-77, and after an empty trip on the offensive end for the Terriers, Dansby found fuller four a layup with 3.6 seconds to play to give the Yellow Jackets a 79-77 lead.
 
However, with a well-drawn-up play by Coach Alexandra Dellas, Thompson inbounded the ball to Bright, whose layup again tied the game, and sent it into overtime.
 
After heading into halftime all tied up at 48, both sides scored 21 in the third quarter, and 20 in the fourth.
 
But it was the Terriers who quickly pressed their advantage in the fourth, taking an 81-79 lead on Branch's jumper they'd never relinquish. With a 6-0 run, capped off by another Branch layup, Hiram made it 85-79 just a minute into the overtime period.
 
Waynesburg pulled within four on Fuller's jumper with 2:23 to play, but a pair of free throws by Branch to give her a career-high 34 brought the lead back out to six, and Thompson's jumper with 1:07 to play iced it, giving Hiram an 89-83 overtime victory.
 
With the win, Hiram moves to 1-0 on the year, while Waynesburg falls to 0-1. Neither team led by more than eight in a game that featured 13 ties and 15 lead changes.
 
Branch led all scorers with a career-high 34, adding seven rebounds and five assists, while Thompson and Bright joined the senior in double-figures with 16 and 10 points apiece. Selena Vargas led Hiram on the glass with 13 boards, while Alex Lichner added 10.
 
As a team, Hiram shot 47.9 percent from the floor and held Waynesburg to 40.5 percent shooting. Both teams scored 40 points in the pain, but Hiram's bench outscored Waynesburg's 50-17.
 
Hiram next will travel Greenville, Pa. on Monday, Nov. 8 for a non-conference matchup against the Thiel College Tomcats scheduled for 7 p.m.