Langhorne, PA - In a true back-and-forth battle the Cairn women's basketball team fell just short in double overtime to the Mid-Atlantic Christian Mustangs on Thursday night by a final score of 86-83. The Highlanders trailed by as many as nine points in the fourth quarter and held a two-point lead with just three seconds on the clock but a layup by the Mustangs tied the game and forced overtime. In overtime the Highlanders hit a three off the hand of EJ Hartzler in the final 30 seconds of the period to tie the game and force a second overtime.
 
The Mustangs took a three-point lead late into the second overtime and the Highlanders had a chance with three ticks on the clock but a Cairn turnover with less than a second effectively ended the game without a last second shot by the Highlanders.
 
Madelyn Brodish (13 points, 12 rebounds) and Charlotte Camp (18 points, 12 rebounds) both collected double-doubles in the game and Payton Emerick grabbed a career-high 19 rebounds. EJ Hartzler connected on six three-pointers in the game for 18 points to tie for the team lead.
 
The opening of Thursday's contest was not indicative of what the rest of the contest was going to offer. Through five and a half minutes in the first-quarter the Highlanders and Mustangs were tied at 2-2. Each team had made one field goal attempt in a very slow paced start to the contest.
 
Both teams stepped up their pace of play in the second portion of the quarter as the score stood even at 11-11 after 10 minutes. In the second-quarter the Mustangs built a lead of nine points five minutes in, but the Highlanders continued to battle with contributions from everybody on the floor. At halftime the Highlanders trailed 20-15.
 
The third-quarter saw the Highlanders erase the Mustangs' lead and take a three-point lead of their own late in the period. Cairn took a 41-38 lead thanks to an 8-0 run that spanned over three minutes.
 
A three-pointer by Eryka Vincent for Mid-Atlantic Christian tied the game at 41-41 and started an impressive 13-1 run that swung the momentum back to the Mustangs. The Mustangs' run lasted 3:43 and stretched into the fourth-quarter. A timeout by the Highlanders seemed to calm Cairn down and the Highlanders started chipping away at the lead.
 
A 12-4 run for Cairn ended with an EJ Hartzler three and cut the Mustangs' lead to one-point at 55-54. A layup by Vincent stretched the lead to three with 4:10 remaining, but a layup by Madelyn Brodish, a jumper by Charlotte Camp, and a pair of free throws from Payton Emerick flipped that lead in favor of the home team with under 2:30 to play in regulation.
 
Vincent answered with a three for Mid-Atlantic Christian to tie the game with 90 seconds remaining. After the two teams traded empty possessions, Charlotte Camp tried to be the hero. The freshman forward hit an elbow jumper with 26 seconds remaining to give Cairn the 62-60 lead. Yet again it was Vincent that responded with a jumper of her own with just 16 seconds later to tie the game.
 
The Highlanders came down with a chance for the last shot. From almost the exact same spot, Camp hit another jumper to put Cairn up again by two with just 2.9 seconds on the clock. After a timeout by the Mustangs they had just seconds for a desperation attempt at the buzzer.
 
Out of the timeout the Mustangs drew up a play for Talethia Alexander who's three from the right wing missed everything but Tierra Lester was all alone for the offensive rebound. Lester grabbed it and laid it in as the horn sounded to send the game to overtime.
 
In overtime the Mustangs took a quick five-point lead in the first 90 seconds of the period. Cairn once again battled back and closed the deficit to one-point on a beautiful transition bucket. Payton emerick grabbed one of her career-high 19 rebounds and pushed forward in transition. With two defenders on her she threw a perfect bounce pass to Kendra Stum who finished the bucket from the left-side for two of her 14 points.
 
After a layup from the Mustangs the Highlanders held the ball with under a minute to play, trailing by three. After timeout, Kendra Stum found EJ Hartzler at the top of the key and she connected on the triple to tie the game at 73-73. After Camp blocked a layup attempt for the Mustangs' Vincent the game headed to a second-overtime.
 
Early in the period, Hartzler struck again from distance, this time it was to break a tie and give Cairn a three-point lead. Cairn later grew their lead to four points with just over a minute remaining in the period when Hartzler connected one last time from downtown. The three came with 1:07 remaining in the period and put Cairn up 83-79.
 
Fifteen seconds later the Mustangs hit a three of their own to make it a one-point game and after a turnover for the Highlanders, Mid-Atlantic Christian made a layup to take the lead at 84-83 with 18 seconds remaining. The Highlanders' shot rattled off the rim. A foul on the rebound sent the Mustangs to the line where they connected on both free throws.
 
After a timeout the Highlanders had one last chance with three seconds on the clock, but they could not get a shot off as a turnover on the inbounds pass gave the Mustangs the victory.
 
As one might expect in a double-overtime game, impressive numbers were not difficult to find in the final box score. The most impressive line of the evening came from the Mustangs' Tierra Lester. Lester went 9-18 from the field for 19 points, but she also grabbed 27 rebounds and blocked six shots on the night for an impressive double-double.
 
The Highlanders fall to 4-7 on the season and will next take the floor on Saturday when they travel to Maywood to take on the Pacers at 1:00 p.m.