Ostrander, Murat lift Bath in OT
BY BOB BENZ THE LEADER

ERIC WENSEL/THE LEADER Bath's Lakeshia McCloud and Wellsville's Chelsea Walker fight for a rebound.

BATH - Morgan Ostrander hit just two buckets Tuesday, but each proved vital in helping Bath Haverling end a four-game losing skid.

Ostrander came off the bench and buried two 3- pointers from the left wing in overtime to propel the Rams to a 35-31 win over Wellsville.

After rallying to force overtime, the Rams stormed out to a 7-1 spurt. Bath freshman Nikki Murat stuck a 14-footer to open overtime, just moments after her short shot from the baseline tied the game late in regulation.

And following Murat's bucket early in OT, Ostrander went to work from long distance, connecting twice from the same spot to help Bath open up a seven-point lead.

"It's funny because she's a good practice player and she probably is one of our better shooters," Bath head coach Randy Abrams said of Ostrander, a 5-foot-3 sophomore guard, who fouled out late in overtime. "She's been struggling this year shooting-wise, so every time she let's go of one now, I'm like, one time, one time. And she hit that first one and it probably just gave her just enough confidence and then she hit the second one. It was huge. And we told her at the end, you put that one on your shoulders and you earned that one for us. That was big."

Of course, Murat played a key role in the win as well, helping send the game to overtime on her way to a nine-point effort. Leah Fuerst poured in a teambest 10 points for the Rams and also dished out five assists. Brooke Hammond added four points and 10 rebounds in the win.

"Nikki Murat had a couple of big plays in the fourth quarter and overtime - twopoint plays, but buckets that went in," Abrams said. "We did just enough."

Despite trailing for much of the first three quarters, Bath finally showed signs of life offensively early in the fourth quarter.

The Rams quickly erased the five-point deficit they faced heading into the final quarter with a 5-0 run that was capped on back-to-back buckets from Hammond.

"We've been on the road for four games now - two weeks - and it was our first one back and I told them during one of the timeouts, I said you're finally at home, you have a crowd that wants to see you do well, pick it up," Abrams said. "So they did pick it up. We picked it up in the fourth when we went full

(court) man (press) and then to overtime - just enough to survive."

Bath was held without a field goal for the entire second quarter as Wellsville grabbed a 15-9 lead at halftime.

"We're still trying to improve (offensively) and that's why defensively, we have to be strong," Abrams said. "We have to give ourselves a chance because we're not gonna score probably 50 or 60 points. We've got to hold teams in the 30s to have a chance."

Jessica Nye gave the Lions a 15-7 lead late in the second quarter as went coast to coast with a layup following a steal. Nye led all scorers with 16 points and teammate Meghan Costello chipped in with nine points for the Lions (2-9).