HILO, HI – The Luther College women's basketball team dropped its first overtime game of the season 95-89. The Norse dominated the first half but the Foresters flipped the script in the second half to claim victory. With the loss Luther fell to 7-4 overall in the opening game of the Big Island Holiday Classic.
 
ALOHA HAWAII
The Norse played one of their best opening quarters all season. And it started with the opening points off the rebound for Lizzie Kauls (North Oaks, Minn. / Mounds View) that set the pace. Luther did everything right to come out of the first 10 minutes with a commanding 28-10 lead over the Foresters. Heading into the second quarter both teams couldn't find their footing but with under five minutes to go the Norse kept building their lead. Luther was lights out shooting fifty-five percent from the field and fifty percent from beyond the arc to take a 45 to 20 lead at the half. Their largest lead of the season.
 
Heading out of the break the Foresters scored but Jordan Rubie (Winona, Minn. / Cotter) answered with a three from the corner as the shot clock expired. Lake Forest slowly began chipping away at the lead little by little throughout the third quarter. Luther still held to the lead 64-50 going into the fourth quarter. Midway through the fourth, the Foresters were only down by ten and the turnovers started to mount for the Norse. The final two minutes of the game were a nailbiter. Luther kept putting points up but every time they did the Foresters seemed to answer back. With ten seconds left in regulation Jordan Rubie went on the fastbreak giving the Norse a 79-77 lead. But just six seconds later the Foresters knotted it up at 79. With three seconds left there was time for one more play from the Norse. The inbound pass went to Kailey Jones (Avoca, Iowa / AHSTW) who put up the final shot but it bounced off the board and the game was headed to overtime.
 
In overtime no team held a lead larger than 3 points until the final 1:40. That's when the Foresters started to pull away. The Norse pulled within three with Chelin Isaacson's (Superior, Colo. / Monarch) layup in the paint making it 89-92 but that would be the final bucket for Luther. The Foresters converted on the next three 3 free throws to put the game away for the comeback win. The Norse drop the opening game of the Big Island Holiday Classic 95-89 despite having six Norse in double digits in scoring.
 
TOP NORSE

• Junior Jordan Rubie (Winona, Minn. / Cotter) led the team with 17 points on 5-10 from the field and 4-7 on three pointers. She also had six rebounds, one block and 1 steal.
• Senior Lizzie Kauls (North Oaks, Minn. / Mounds View) had 13 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double. Sophomore Kailey Jones (Avoca, Iowa / AHSTW) also had double-double with 10 points and 17 rebounds.
• Sophomores Kate Hosking (Slinger, Wis. / Slinger) had 16 points, Chelin Isascson (Superior, Colo. / Monarch) had 13, and Megan Miller (Urbandale, Iowa / Des Moines Christian) had 12.  

UP NEXT
The Norse finish out the Big Island Holiday Classic on Monday December 19^th with a game against Grove City College in Hilo, Hawaii. Tipoff is set for 3:30 p.m. CT.
 
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