Emory junior Allison Chernow scorched Transylvania for a career-high 39 points, but the Pioneers held off the Eagles Saturday evening in double overtime at TU's Gratz Park Private Wealth Classic. Emory saw its record dip to 2-2 after a tough 90-87 decision in two extra sessions while the Pioneers upped their ledger to 3-1.
Chernow's point total represented the program's second-highest individual game mark, behind only Mandy Jackson's 41 against Millsaps back on Jan. 7, 1993. Chernow closed out the contest 13-of-19 from the floor, with her field goal total tying the school's third-highest effort, including a school-record tying nine three-point field goals in 11 attempts. Chernow's performance from beyond the arc tied Hannah Lilly (vs. LaGrange, Nov. 26, 2013) for most treys by an Emory player.
Junior guard Lindsey Tse and classmate Erin Lindahl rounded out the Emory double-figure scorers with 14 and 11 points, respectively, with Tse doling out six assists and Lindahl chipping in three assists and two steals.
Emory enjoyed an edge in field goal shooting, converting 32-of-70 from the floor, compared to TU's 43.8 percent (28-of-64). The Eagles were on fire from distance, draining 63.6 percent (fourth-highest single-game mark) of their attempts, knocking down 14 (tying school's second-highest total) in 22 tries while TU sank four of its 15 opportunities. Emory was whistled for 28 fouls to TU's 17, which led to the Pioneers sinking 30-of-37 from the stripe while Emory was successful on nine-of-14. The Eagles had four players foul out including three starters. Transylvania closed out the contest with a 48-28 bulge in rebounding.
Trailing by a five-point margin early in the third quarter, the Eagles went on a 23-11 tear over the final 9:19 of the frame to claim a 46-39 advantage heading into the final stanza. Both Tse and Chernow scored six points in that run with Chernow sinking a pair of three pointers.
A three-pointer by Chernow and a bucket by freshman Kennedy Cater to start the final 10 minutes of play gave Emory its largest lead of the contest at 51-39 with 8:50 remaining. A 9-2 spurt by the Pioneers drew them to within five, but a Chernow trey boosted the Eagles to a 56-48 lead with 5:02 on the clock. Transy then mounted a 13-2 barrage over the next 2:34, taking advantage of three Emory turnovers in that stretch, to claim a 61-58 lead. Chernow stemmed the tide with a timely triple, tying the score at 61-61 with 1:54 on the clock before the Pioneers eventually held a 65-63 advantage after a layup by Ashton Woodward with 25 seconds left. Lindahl then tied things up after hitting a bucket with 12 seconds remaining, forcing the first overtime.
In the first OT, a jumper by Chernow with 1:08 left gave the Eagles a 74-72 edge. The teams exchanged missed field goal opportunities, which led to the Pioneers having the last shot. A jumper in the waning seconds by Celia Kline missed its mark, but Zenoviah Walker grabbed the rebound and was fouled with one second left, whereupon she sank a pair forcing the second overtime.
A three-pointer by Kline boosted the Pioneers to an 82-77 lead with 2:28 to go, but three pointers by sophomore Molly Weiss and Chernow accounted for a 6-1 run that sliced the deficit to one point. After pair of TU free throws, a charity toss by Tse and a layup by Chernow helped fuel a 4-1 run that deadlocked the score for the 13th time in the game at 87-87 with 34 seconds remaining. A three-pointer by Kline, who finished with 19 points, with 14 seconds remaining gave the Pioneers what proved to be their winning points. Emory had a chance to tie but missed its three-point try.
Emory returns to action on Sunday when it plays Denison (2-2) at 1:00 pm.