Simmons Basketball overcame a halftime deficit to Johnson and Wales to push the Wildcats to overtime, and another Great Northeast Athletic Conference win for the Sharks, 67-61. Senior forward Stephanie Fox (West Springfield, Mass.) hit a double double, scoring 25 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, with three assists and three blocks to help the Sharks to the win. Simmons now stands 9-4 overall (2-0 GNAC), while JWU falls to 5-9 (0-1 GNAC).

The Wildcats held the 26-24 advantage heading into halftime, and continued to claw at the Simmons offense through the second half. With five minutes remaining, and the score at 47-42 JWU, the tide began to turn. A jumper from junior guard Liane Lantagne (Haverhill, Mass.) brought Simmons up to 47-44, and was answered with two points from JWU's Katurah Andrews to bring the tally to 49-44. After a foul on Andrews, senior guard Julianna Eagles (Quincy, Mass.) hit both free throws to bump Simmons closer, 49-46. Wildcats' Marina Millian hit her two free throws after a foul from Lantagne.

With the score at 51-46, Wildcat advantage, sophomore guard Jessica Thomas (East Sandwich, Mass.) sank a beautiful 3-point field goal to bring Simmons within three points of JWU. Eagles shot another two free throws after a foul from Allyson Dowen to even the score, 51-51. Several fouls later from both sides ended the second half tied at 53-53 to bring the game to overtime.

Once in overtime, the Sharks could not be stopped, outscoring the Wildcats 14-8 to end the evening.

Eagles scored 17 points for the Sharks and had four assists, while shooting 9-10 at the free throw line. Thomas, freshman guard Liz O'Connor (Milton, Mass.) and freshman forward Emily Thomas (Cheshire, Conn.) each had six points for Simmons in the win.

Johnson and Wales had four athletes scoring in the double-digits on the night. Alexa Ramirez led the Wildcats with 18 points and six boards. Morgan Wilson tallied 15 points, while Dowan contributed 12 and Andrews had 10 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

Simmons will next travel to Norwich University for a 1:00pm GNAC game on Saturday, January 16. The Wildcats will host St. Joseph's College of Maine on January 18 at 1:00pm.