JACKSON, Tenn. – The Savannah State Lady Tigers were handed a rare second chance to win on Saturday in a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC) road game against Lane College, but could not capitalize.  

With 10 seconds to play in the fourth quarter, Alexus Bryant drained a layup and newcomer Autumn Westmoreland added a layup of her own eight seconds later to tie the game at 60 and force an overtime period.

Lane College broke out to a 69-64 lead behind two good free-throws from Briana Thompson with 48 seconds left to play in overtime. Azhana Maxwell drained a three-pointer seconds later to put the Lady Tigers within two points of the home team's lead.

With 1 second on the clock, Lane's Ra'keta Shelton called timeout. But Lane was out of timeouts and the call resulted in a technical foul giving SSU one last shot to win the game. Le'Andrea Gillis, the SIAC top scorer, went 1-for-1 from the line missing a crucial second free-throw that would have tied the game and forced more action.

Gillis, otherwise, had another outstanding night, scoring 20 points to lead SSU. It's the sixth time this season she's scored at least 20 points. Gillis leads the SIAC in scoring, averaging 21.1 points a game.

Ta'Kyla Austin followed with 13 and Maxwell added 12 on the night. Bryant had a strong outing as well, leading SSU on defense with 12 rebounds. On the other end, she put up eight points and had four blocks.

The Lady Tigers return to action on Jan. 15 with a non-conference road game against Morris College, followed by back-to-back SIAC road games against Fort Valley State (Jan. 18) and Clark Atlanta (Jan. 20).

Savannah State returns to Tiger Arena on Jan. 25 to face SIAC East Division leaders Benedict College. They host Paine College in Tiger Arena on Jan. 27.