Junior post Eileen Powers of the women's basketball team lived up to her name this weekend by sinking a basket with one second remaining in overtime to beat Southwest Texas State, 82-81, at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.
This was the second game of the two-day tournament at Baylor that launched the Tigers into their pre-season schedule. The weekend started off roughly, to say the least, when host Baylor smashed Princeton, 86-47.
Despite falling behind 10-1 in the first five minutes of Friday night's game, the Tigers showed impressive resilience in the next five, with senior point guard Allison Cahill's three-pointer giving them a 14-13 lead.
But Baylor refused to let Princeton saddle them any more on their own court, and the Bears began forcing mistakes left and right. Scoring ten points off turnovers and six points off offensive rebounds, Baylor finished the half with a 35-27 edge.
It was in the second half of the game that the Tigers lost control. They finished the second half making a sickly 22 percent of their field goals, next to the host's 53 percent. Even in free throws, Princeton tapered off from a strong 80 percent first-half showing to a lame 50 percent in the second. And while Baylor outdid their 35 halftime score with another 51 points, the Tigers could muster only 20.
Even with sophomore guard Karen Bolster's team-high 17 points, nine coming from behind the arc, and Powers's seven rebounds, five Bears scored in double figures and sent the Tigers back to their den.
If losing by 39 points was even a bit harrowing for the Tigers, they certainly didn't show it the next day in their buzzer-beating triumph over Southwest Texas State.
In the first eight minutes, The Tigers fell behind 20-9, but somehow they got a hold of themselves when Cahill broke the ice with a field goal at the 1:25 mark of the first half. They finished the first 20 minutes with 32 points and a miniscule deficit of two baskets.
The two teams battled for the remainder of the game, with neither one gaining more than a four-point spread until there were seven seconds left in regulation when the Tigers opened a five-point lead.
But Texas's Julia Brooks magically scored a three-pointer and a layup to tie the game at the buzzer.
In overtime, the Bobcats edged ahead by five with 3:45 left, but Cahill drew two fouls and capitalized on all four foul shots. Junior guard Mary Cate Opila then followed up with a two-pointer seconds later to give Princeton a one-point advantage.
With 18 seconds left, Texas pulled ahead by one with another free throw. Despite the pressure of a ticking clock and five desperate Bobcats chasing at their heels, the Tigers held the ball right up until the last shot, when senior Maureen Lane put up a prayer that bounced off the rim with two second left.
Powers was waiting underneath and answered the prayer with her 12th point and the winning basket that sent the Tigers back to the East Coast with something to growl about.
Lane finished with 22 points, eight rebounds, and six assists, Cahill with 15 points, and freshman Rebecca Brown with 14.
That the Tigers displayed such resilience so early in the season bodes well for a team that just two years ago won two games out of 27.
While seasons are never determined by single games, and while preliminary outings almost never dictate how teams will fare as the season evolves, it is certainly encouraging that Princeton not only held out until the very last overtime second, but did so with a confidence not often built right after a 39-point slaughter and a composure not often seen in the second game of the year.
Princeton will host its first home game Wednesday night against Tennessee-Martin at 7 p.m.
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