The girls varsity basketball team defeated St. George’s School 61-57 in overtime on Saturday, January 21, in one of the most exciting games in the Olcott Center this year.

Loomis Chaffee won the opening tip and had several good looks at the basket on the team’s opening possession but couldn’t get the ball to drop. Undeterred, the Pelicans forced a turnover on St. George’s opening possession and put up the first points of the game when senior Carys Baker drew two players and dished to sophomore Liv Westfort, who put home a layup to give the Pelicans the early lead.

The intense play continued throughout the first half as both teams fought for every rebound and played relentless defense. The teams headed to the locker rooms for halftime with the score 21-15 in favor of the Pelicans.

After a couple of halftime adjustments, the Pelicans built upon their lead thanks to big defensive stops, good shooting from Baker, and nice layups from sophomore Abby Congdon.

With a 32-22 lead for Loomis, St. George’s took a timeout, and the game began to turn. The Dragons went on a scoring streak and built a 44-38 lead with just four minutes and 12 seconds left in the game.

Loomis did everything in its power to tie up the game. With under a minute to play, the Pelicans evened things up at 46, but a three-pointer from St. George’s seconds later forced the Pelicans into desperation. As time expired, Congdon put up a three-point shot to tie the game. Her shot missed, but she drew a shooting foul on the play with zero seconds on the clock.

Down by three points and with no time left, Congdon had to hit all three of her foul shots to force overtime. The sophomore stepped to the line and drilled three straight shots, sending the home crowd into a frenzy that practically blew the roof off of the Olcott Center.

Once things settled down, the four-minute overtime period commenced, and the Pelicans jumped out to a two-point lead thanks to a beautiful step-back floater from none other than Congdon. After a defensive stop, the Pelicans doubled their lead with a beautiful play from junior Sam Mancini, who collected a rebound and put up a fading hook shot that banked off the glass and in.

St. George’s battled back and even hit a big three-pointer late to make things close, but the Pelicans hung on to win.

With the victory, the Pelicans improved to seven wins and four losses on the year.

Up next, the Pelicans host Taft on Wednesday, January 25, in a Founders League matchup at 2:15 p.m. in the Olcott Center.