Box Score

SEARCY — Sophomore Makala McNair scored a career-high 29 points to help the undefeated Harding Lady Bisons rally for a 91-87 overtime victory against the St. Edward's Hilltoppers at Rhodes Field House on Saturday night.

McNair, a transfer from Arkansas State, hit 8 of 10 three-pointers to tie Mandy Cox' Harding record for most three-pointers in a game.

Harding (7-0) had trailed by as many as 10 points in the second half but never fell out of contention. Catherine McMenamy tied the game 75-75 on a layup with 1:27 remaining, but Hilltopper Sara Head hit a pair of free throws to give her team a 77-75 lead with 1:09 left.

McMenamy pushed the ball ahead to McNair, who scored a left-handed fastbreak layup to tie the game 77-77 with 18 seconds remaining in regulation. Head missed a layup just before time expired as the game moved into overtime.

Senior Ashley Anderson scored a jumper in the lane to give the Lady Bisons an 83-81 lead, and Harding never trailed again. Anderson scored five of her seven points during overtime. McMenamy, who finished with a season-high 22 points, also scored five points during the extra time.

“If you can get wins and learn something by playing out of a hole, hopefully that's good,” Harding coach Tim Kirby said.

Harding scored 39 points from three-point range, hitting 13 of 27 shots (48.1 percent). In addition to McNair's eight three pointers, McMenamy made three of seven attempts. May and freshman Audri Garcia each made their only three-point attempt.

The Lady Bisons also shot 22 of 29 from the free-throw line.

Because of St. Edward's zone defense, the Lady Bisons struggled to take shots close to the basket early in the game. Eleven of Harding's first 16 shots were three-pointers as St. Edward's (3-5) led 36-28 with 9:33 remaining in the first half. The Hilltoppers led 36-28 at halftime.

The Lady Bisons made only 9 of 34 shots (26.5 percent) from the field in the first half while St. Edward's made 13 of 30 shots (43.3 percent). St. Edward's also took seven more free throws than Harding, making 8 of 14 of them.

Head led St. Edward's with 24 points; she also accounted for 17 of the Hilltoppers' 43 rebounds.

Part of Harding's rally was aided by a change in defense. The Lady Bisons moved from their traditional man-to-man into a zone defense to stop Head, a 6-foot-1 post, from scoring inside.

“We worked on zone the last two days, not knowing what we were going to see tonight because they've played high and low against some of the teams already,” Kirby said. “I think that got that got in our heads a little bit early."


The Lady Bisons will host Alabama-Huntsville on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.