CSUN Women Find Quiet Spot for Win, 75-71

It’s time for final exams at Cal State Northridge. A nice, quiet place to study is imperative for the serious student.

Maybe that’s why about a dozen in the crowd of about 50 had their noses in textbooks instead of their eyes on the action Tuesday night as the CSUN women’s basketball team played host to Northern Colorado.

For most of the game, they didn’t miss much.

But at the end, Northridge came back from an 13-point deficit to win, 75-71, in overtime in the nonconference game at CSUN.

It was an exciting finish to a game that had more fouls, turnovers and missed layups than it did points.

Northridge (3-4) missed two layups and had five turnovers in the five-minute overtime period and still managed to outscore the Bears, 14-10.

“There was no reason that the game should have ever been that close,” said Northridge Coach Leslie Milke. “We put ourselves in a position where we had to struggle. We should have just flat out beaten that team, but a ‘W’ is a ‘W.’ ”

Northridge had 32 turnovers and made only 37.7% of its field goal attempts--most of which were inside the key.

“I was pleased with the way we ran our offense,” Milke said. “We got the shots we were supposed to get. They just didn’t go in.”

Northern Colorado (3-3) led at the half, 30-28, then outscored Northridge, 10-1, in the first four minutes of the second half.

The Lady Matadors trailed, 48-35, with 11 minutes left before rallying behind the play of Denise Sitton.

Sitton, a senior, scored eight points in the next seven minutes as Northridge outscored the Bears, 16-2, to take a 51-50 lead. The Lady Matadors held the lead until three seconds remained in regulation when Bear center Karen Simon scored off an offensive rebound to tie it at 61.

Northern Colorado scored the first four points of the overtime. With a minute left, the score was tied at 69, but Northridge scored six straight points.