BILLINGS, Montana – The No. 13 Lewis-Clark State Women's Basketball team overcame a 15-point deficit in regulation to force overtime with the No. 20 Rocky Mountain Battlin Bears in Billings. The Warriors fought until the buzzer, but fell to Rocky 71-69. Abbie Johnson recorded a career-high 13 rebounds in the third double-double of her career (15 points, 13 rebounds). Kiara Burlage also notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
"It's always heartbreaking when you lose at the buzzer," head coach Brian Orr said. "It's even worse when you lose after battling back from a 15-point deficit. I was really proud of the way we fought to get back in the game, but in the end it's still a loss."
 
Both teams were held off the board through the first three minutes of the game until Johnson dropped in a layup. Burlage answered a Battlin Bears basket with one of her own to keep the Warriors in front 4-2 at 6:25. RMC took a 7-4 lead with a 3 at the midway point of the quarter. A bucket from Hannah Burland at 2:34 tied things up 10-10, and Johnson put LC State in front 12-10 with an assist from Abby Farmer. Rocky drained three free throws to end the first quarter leading 13-12.
 
Jamie Nielson hit a 3-pointer to bring LC State within two late in the quarter, but the Bears controlled the quarter. The Warriors trailed 31-24.
 
Burlage put up the first points of the second half with a jumper 10 seconds in, but Rocky continued to grow its lead.  Johnson and Burlage went back-to-back to pull the Warriors within four at 45-41 with 1:27 to play in the third.
 
Jansen Edmiston was good on four free throws to keep LC within four, and Burlage made it a two-point deficit at 50-48 with seven to play. A layup by Burland kept the deficit at two, and Johnson tied things up 57-57 with two foul shots at 1:33. Burlage made two free throws and Burland added a basket to send the game into overtime.
 
The Battlin Bears scored first in the overtime period and pushed their lead back out to four, but a big 3 from Burland made it 67-66 with under a minute to play. Rocky nailed a 3 in response to go up 69-66, but Burland hit another to tie things up. Her shot came after four offensive rebounds in a row for LC State. Rocky found the basket at the buzzer to take the game 71-69 in overtime.
 
Johnson led the Warriors with 15 points and 13. Burland, Edmiston and Burlage each had 12 points and Nielson added 10. Burlage also notched a double-double with 10 rebounds.
 
The Warriors outshot the Bears from the free throw line 80.1 percent to 71.4 percent. Both teams went 6-for-21 from three. LC grabbed three more rebounds with 50.
 
"Going 0-2 on this road trip is extremely disappointing and you can't win championships if you can't win on the road. We know we are going to have to work hard to get back in the race," Orr said. "We are looking forward to playing four-straight at home. We need to find ways to win and build our team confidence back up."
 
LC State heads home to host No. 11 MSU-Northern on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the Activity Center.