ROANOKE, Va. — The Averett University women's basketball team fell to Hollins University 58-55 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference play on Saturday afternoon.

Averett (4-18, 2-13 ODAC) led 53-48 with 3:45 to play before Hollins (4-15, 1-13 ODAC) held the Cougars without a point for more than three minutes down the stretch. During that time, Hollins hit back-to-back 3-pointers to take a 54-53 advantage. Hollins made three free throws with under a minute to play but left the door cracked for the Cougars in the final seconds. Freshman Rayanna Evans hit a jumper with under 11 seconds to play to get Averett within 58-55, and the Cougars stole the inbounds pass. Down three, Averett drove to the basket looking for another quick layup but a bounce pass was picked off by Hollins, which called timeout with 5.1 seconds remaining.

After the timeout, Hollins tried to throw the ball deep but the play resulted in an out of bounds call, giving Averett one more opportunity with 3.2 seconds remaining. The Cougars got off a contested 3-pointer that failed to go in, giving Hollins its first ODAC win of the season and its third victory in a row.

Averett outscored Hollins in each of the last three quarters after falling behind 19-10 after one quarter of play. The Cougars trailed by as many as six at the start of the fourth before making a run to tie the game and eventually take a five-point lead on a pair of free throws by junior Natija Pate.

Juniors Talia Prosper and Jihnez Hutchinson each had a team-high eight points, with Hutchinson pulling in a team-best 10 rebounds. Pate and sophomore Olivia Garner each had seven points, with Garner grabbing eight rebounds. Evans added nine rebounds and freshman Brianna Sams had seven boards along with Prosper.

The Cougars outrebounded Hollins 60-47 but Hollins 12 blocks on defense also proved to be a factor.

Averett hosts conference foe Ferrum College on Saturday, Feb. 11, at 2 p.m. for the basketball program's Alumni Reunion Day.



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