[West Palm Beach, FL] - Aslea Williams scored 25 and pulled in 18 rebounds to lead Shaw past Palm Beach Atlantic 80-74 in overtime at the Palm Beach Atlantic Pre-Christmas Tournament at Rubin Arena. 

The Lady Bears earned the win on the glass and at the free throw line.  Shaw collected 48 rebounds to PBA's 31 and hit 19 free throws (out of 23) versus the Sailfish's nine of 13 performance.

The lone spot where Shaw struggled was with turnovers - committing 23 miscues on the afternoon compared to PBA's 15.

With the win, the Lady Bears improve to 3-2 on the season while the Sailfish drop to 5-7.

The game was close from the start.  While Shaw opened a 7-2 lead early, Palm Beach Atlantic answered with a five-point scoring run, tying the score at seven.  The teams would tie six times in the first half alone, and neither team took larger than a three-point advantage after that first Shaw lead.  The Lady Bears took a 33-32 lead into the half.

The story of the second half changed little.  After a layup from Victoria Tanner for the Lady Bears, the Sailfish answered with a three from Lynsey Poole to again tie the score.

Shaw then opened their second substantial lead of the game, outscoring PBA 12-5.  When Kyria Buford hit a jumper off a feed from Sequoyah Griffin, she gave the Lady Bears at 47-40 lead. 

The Lady Bears would extend the lead to nine when Shemieka Brown hit a layup to make the score 51-42.  The Sailfish answered with an 11-2 run, tying the score at 53 off a fast break layup from Ashley Dolberry with 9:06 left in regulation.

With 1:51 left, Selethia Jackson hit a jumper to give PBA a 68-65 lead, but Brittany Ranson answered.  After missing a three, Ransom got her own rebound, drove the lane, taking a foul and sinking the layup.  She would make the free throw to tie the game at 68 with 1:22 left.

Both teams went cold at that point, and the game finished with the 68-all tie.

Williams started the scoring in the overtime period, hitting a jumper with only ten seconds off the clock and later converting one of two free throws to give the Lady Bears a 71-68 advantage.  Brown would hit two free throws a minute later to give Shaw a five-point advantage.

The Sailfish would twice cut the Shaw lead to three, but each time the Bears would answer, extending the lead to six when Tanner hit a layup, was fouled, and hit the free throw to give the Lady Bears a 78-72 lead.  Both teams would score another two for a final 80-74 tally.

Two other Lady Bears joined Williams in the double-digit scoring club.  Buford finished the evening with 13 points, and Tanner came within a rebound of a double-double of her own, scoring 12 and collecting nine boards.  Griffin led the Lady Bears with six assists.

Four Sailfish hit double figures in the game.  Jackson led PBA with 16 points while Dolberry and Jordan Kong had 14 apiece.  Poole tossed in 13 of her own.  Jackson led Palm Beach Atlantic with seven rebounds and Dolberry dished out seven assists.

The Lady Bears close out the Pre-Christmas Tournament when they take on Arkansas-Fort Smith tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.