Kankakee, IL.- #5 RVC Women's Basketball fell short on Saturday afternoon losing a 78-82 overtime slugfest to Kankakee Community College. This would be the second loss in a row for the Golden Eagles as they fall to 7-3 on the season.

The Cavaliers jumped out to an early 23-15 lead in the first quarter. "They came out with big time energy and were ready to go from the tip-off." Stated Watkins. Our sense of energy was not there to start the game. We talked about it this week that heading to Kankakee would be a tough place to play. It's a smaller gym their crowd gets fired up and into the game creating a loud and crazy atmosphere.

The Golden Eagles would battle through a slow start in the first quarter to gaining momentum as they would win the second and third quarters to take their first lead of the game lead heading into the 4^th quarter 53-51. "It seemed like we had finally caught our footing in the game getting stops on the defensive end of the floor." said Head Women's Basketball Coach Darryl Watkins. The Golden Eagles finished the 3^rd quarter on a 7-0 run which all stemmed from getting stops and converting in transition.
 
The 4^th quarter would prove to be no different with a back and forth style game in which no one could take control of the game before sophomore Carson Nitz would come down and hit a huge 3 point shot to give the Golden Eagles a lead with about a minute and some change left on the clock. That shot was huge and took a lot of heart to take and knock it down. We preach to our kids to have confidence and shoot every shot with a purpose and Carson did just that at the right point of the game.  With 25 seconds left in the 4^th quarter and the Golden Eagles with control of the basketball Coach Watkins would use his final timeout to draw up a baseline out of bounds play. "At this point in the game we were up 1 point the shot clock was turned off and I wanted to get the absolute best opportunity to put the game away" stated Watkins. And the Golden Eagles did just that. Out of the time out Rock Valley executed that play to get MaKayli Vann a baseline back door look which they converted on and would take a 3 point lead. With time running down Kankakee would come down wasting a bit of that time off of the clock before getting a drive and kick look to Kierra Williamson for a 3pt make that would send the game to overtime. That shot would seem to be the last blow to the Golden Eagles as they wouldn't recover in the extra period as the Cavaliers would start the period off with a 4-0 run and go on to outscore the Eagles 15-11 in overtime.
 
"There were flashes during this game of the team we can be at the end of the day. Being able to control the pace of the game down the stretch, knocking down big time shots, executing sets, and getting the best look possible, knocking down pressure free-throws and most importantly getting stops on the defensive end." Said Watkins
 
Our schedule continues to challenge us as we move through the month of December, but this is what we signed up for we wanted to be challenged and put to the test early so we can be playing our best basketball at the right point of the season.
 
The Golden Eagles were led by freshman Hannah Malcomson (26 points) and sophomores Carson Nitz (22 points, 7 rebounds) MaKayli Vann (12 points) and Samantha Harris (11 points, 9 rebounds).
UP NEXT
RVC is back at home as they host Morton College (Rockford, IL) on Wednesday, December 11th. Tip off time is set for 5:00 PM.