Oglethorpe Athletics contributed to this report

ATLANTA (Feb. 25, 2018) – The Oglethorpe women's basketball team won its first Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Tournament and its second conference championship overall, Sunday. The No. 1 seed and host Stormy Petrels outlasted No. 3 seed Hendrix in a thrilling 70-69 overtime contest inside Dorough Field House.

The victory was not easy for the Stormy Petrels, as Hendrix repeatedly came back from deficits in the second half. That included a pair of eight points comebacks for the Warriors. Hendrix was down by that margin with 4:15 left in the game, but fought back to force overtime. The Petrels persevered, though, coming back from a three-point deficit in overtime.

"This was an outstanding game with two great teams," said Oglethorpe head coach Alex Richey, "and credit goes to Hendrix and Coach [Drew] Gaeng, as they battled back multiple times and showed their character. At the end of the day, though, I couldn't be happier for this group of young women. They have stayed the course, believed in one another, trusted one another, bought into our plan, and they loved each other. When that happens, good things are going to happen to your team. It's great when you have the ability and the confidence in every single player you put in the game to get the job done, and everybody on our team got the job done today. It's taken us four years to get to this point with this group, and we're really going to enjoy these next couple of days as we get ready to go to the NCAA tournament."

OU junior guard Bailey Charles sank a three-pointer to begin the extra frame, but the Warriors responded with back-to-back threes to take a 61-58 lead with 3:29 left. OU sophomore guard Taylor Dodson responded less than 30 seconds later with a huge three of her own, hitting the shot with a hand in our face, to tie the game at 61-61.

The two teams traded missed opportunities, but Oglethorpe got a layup from Charles, who finished with 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds, to take the lead back with 1:30 left. Hendrix tied the game at the other end, but another Oglethorpe bucket, this time from SAA Player of the Year Savannah LeGate, gave the black and gold a 65-63 lead with 53 seconds left. 

LeGate took home SAA Tournament MVP honors, giving her that award along with the league's top honor and SAA Newcomer of the Year accolade. She finished the game Sunday with a game-high 20 points, with two blocks and seven rebounds. She was joined on the SAA All-Tournament Team by sophomore forward Karlymarie Dyer, who finished the day with five points and six rebounds.

At the other end, Hendrix missed a late three before Charles got the rebound and was fouled. With 27 seconds left, Charles sank both shots from the charity stripe to give her team a 67-63 lead. Hendrix got a quick bucket at the other end to cut it back to two, but Charles was fouled again with 21 seconds left and again sank both free throws.

The Petrels then fouled Madison Martin of Hendrix with 12 seconds remaining, allowing her to sink a pair of free throws with the clock stopped and cut the Petrel lead back down to two. With around 10 seconds left, the Petrels made just 1-of-4 free throws during an exchange where Charles was fouled and junior forward Lauren Ransom picked up an offensive rebound and got fouled. Hendrix got two free throws at the other end with five seconds left and made them both, cutting the Oglethorpe edge to 70-69. Charles got the ball again and was fouled with three seconds on the clock, but missed both free throws, giving Hendrix the chance for a heave at the end. They never got the chance for that, though, as sophomore guard Sydney Long stepped in and swiped the ball from the Warriors' Leah Boehl, clinching the victory.

Oglethorpe will now head to the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship, as the SAA automatic bid into the 64-team field. OU will find out where they will play on Monday at 2:30 p.m., when the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Committee announces the bracket on NCAA.com.

Women's Basketball All-Tournament Team

Savannah LeGate, Oglethorpe (MVP)

Karlymarie Dyer, Oglethorpe

Vinessa Daniel, Hendrix

Heather Prowse, Hendrix

Lindsey Whiteside, Rhodes

Jana Morning, Berry

Emilee Olsen, Birmingham-Southern

Olivia Schad, Centre

Anna Wilson, Millsaps

Bella Taylor, Sewanee