DAHLONEGA, Ga. | Vanessa Agrusa and Julie McKie each scored 19 points as the University of North Georgia pulled out an 84-73 overtime decision over its cross-mountain rival Young Harris College in a Peach Belt Conference women's basketball game Wednesday (Jan. 10) evening in Memorial Hall.

The Nighthawks, which never had the lead until the extra period, improved to 11-2 overall and to 6-1 in the Peach Belt, while the Mountain Lions fell to 5-10 and 2-5. Young Harris returns to action Saturday (Jan. 13) at the YHC Basketball Arena with a 1:30 p.m. PBC contest against Flagler College.

Young Harris started the game by jumping out to a 10-2 lead after Sara Jorgensen nailed a three-pointer from the left side at the 6:08 mark of the first quarter. That was one of a college record-tying 11 three-pointers by the Mountain Lions, who shot 40.7 percent (11-of-27) from long range, in the game.

The Mountain Lions used a 9-2 run at the end of the first quarter to take a 22-10 lead.  YHC continued to add to its lead in the second quarter, opening up a 30-16 advantage on another Jorgensen trey with 6:30 left. The Mountain Lions led 40-29 at half. 

Young Harris got a layup from Ashlyn Ellison, a three-pointer by Eryn Cochran and a free throw by Ge'Naisha Robinson to open up its largest lead - 15 points (46-31) - with 5:42 left in the third quarter. The Nighthawks pulled to within six points (48-42) with 9:48 remaining in regulation as the Mountain Lions went 8:01 without a field goal. 

Ellison got a layup to break the Mountain Lions drought and got back-to-back three-pointers from Briana Bell and Sarah Garner to push the YHC lead to 56-42 with 7:54 left, but the Nighthawks battled back to tie the game at 66 with 16.6 seconds left on an Agrusa putback. The Mountain Lions had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Bell's jumper at the buzzer was unsuccessful. 

"We did everything we needed to do to win the game tonight," said YHC head coach Matt Stearsman. "Late in the game we let them drive it all the the way to the basket and had a couple of and ones. We played extremely hard and just couldn't finish it off. Give our kids a lot of credit for their effort."

The Nighthawks took their first lead of the game at 68-66 on two free throws by Agrusa five seconds into overtime. The Mountain Lions got as close as a point (71-70) after Cochran hit two three throws with 1:25 left, but North Georgia hit all nine free throw attempts in the final 73 seconds to seal the Battle of Blood Mountain win.

Julianne Sutton added 12 points for the Nighthawks, while Deana Blakinship had a double double with 13 rebounds and 11 points. Amber Skidgel also scored in double figures with 10 points. 

Robinson led the Mountain Lions with 15 points, while Cochran and Ellison each finished with 13 points. Jorgensen tallied 10 for Young Harris, while Bell had nine and Garner added eight more. Garner also pulled down 12 rebounds.