Albany, N.Y. - The Le Moyne College women's basketball team lost a 73-72 overtime thriller on the road to The College of Saint Rose on Tuesday night and dropped to 2-1 on the season. Senior forward Emma Brinker (East Aurora, N.Y./East Aurora) scored a career-high 30 points for the Dolphins to go along with 12 rebounds for her third double-double in three games. 

The Golden Knights scored a quick layup to start the game, then put a press on the Dolphins and forced a turnover. 

Brinker grabbed an offensive rebound off a Lytoya Baker (Rochester, N.Y./Bishop Kearney) miss with 7:38 left in the first quarter, drew a foul and made two free-throws to make it 7-4 in favor of Saint Rose. 

Half a minute later Baker sent a pass to Saeeda Abdul-Aziz (Schenectady, N.Y./Mohonasen/Davidson) on the perimeter and the redshirt-junior drilled a three-pointer to tie the game at 7-7.

The teams traded baskets throughout the quarter. With 4:08 left in the first period Baker hit a turnaround eight-footer to cut the Le Moyne deficit to one point, and a layup from Brinker at the 2:35 mark gave Le Moyne their first lead of the game. 

With 7:05 remaining in the second quarter Erin Fouracre (Loudonville, N.Y./Colonie Central) stole the ball off a Saint Rose baseline out of bounds play and passed it ahead to Lexi Gruss (Binghamton, N.Y./Binghamton) for a layup to put Le Moyne up 25-23. 

Fouracre made another steal with 2:04 left in the half and this time passed it to Baker who converted the layup and gave Le Moyne a 29-28 lead. 

Fouracre made one of two free throws with one minute left in the half to give the Dolphins a 30-28 lead.

Saint Rose would score the last basket of the half and the teams would go into the break tied 30-30.

Brinker made a layup, drew a foul and converted the free throw with 7:39 left in the third quarter to give Le Moyne a 33-30 advantage. The senior forward then grabbed the rebound off a Fouracre miss at the 6:55 mark and scored another layup to put the Dolphins up 35-33.

Abdul-Aziz drained a three-point field goal at the 5:00 mark to make it 40-38 in favor of the Dolphins, and Fouracre made a great pass on the move to Haedyn Roberts (Holland Patent, N.Y./Holland Patent) on the right block for a layup to put Le Moyne up 42-41. 

Brinker scored back-to-back mid range jumpers for Le Moyne, and Saint Rose converted an old-fashioned three-point play in the final minute of the quarter. The game was tied 46-46 at the end of the third period. 

Baker drove to the basket and scored a layup to start the fourth quarter to put Le Moyne up by two. 

Fouracre knocked down a three-pointer with 6:02 left, and Baker came up with a steal and a basket with 5:35 remaining in the fourth quarter to put Le Moyne up 54-49. 

The Golden Knights knocked down a three-pointer with just under four minutes left in the game to cut the deficit to 58-57. 

Fouracre delivered back-to-back assists to Brinker at the 3:38 and 3:05 marks of the final period to put the Dolphins up 62-57, their largest lead of the game, and forced a Golden Knights timeout. 

Aisha Smith drained a three-point field goal for Saint Rose with 1:15 remaining to tie the game at 62-62. 

With 0:51 remaining in regulation Brinker caught the ball in the lane, turned to her left and knocked down a jumper to put Le Moyne back on top, 64-62. 

A Becca Townes floater with under 30 seconds remaining gave Saint Rose a 66-65 advantage. 

Brinker grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free-throw and got fouled with three seconds remaining and made one of two free throws to tie the game at 66-66 and send the contest into overtime.

Fouracre scored immediately to start the overtime period and put Le Moyne up 68-66.

Nina Fedullo and Becca Townes both converted layups for Saint Rose to give the Golden Knights a 70-68 advantage.

Brinker made one of two free-throws with 0:21 seconds remaining in overtime to put Le Moyne behind 70-69.

Fouracre got to the basket but wasn't able to finish the layup with six seconds remaining, and Ryley Blasetti grabbed the rebound and made two free throws at the other end to put the Golden Knights up 73-69. 

Abdul-Aziz made a three-point field goal with one second remaining in overtime, but the Dolphins suffered their first loss of the season on the road by a score of 73-72.

Fouracre finished the game with 12 points and eight assists and Zimmerman tallied four points, two steals, three blocks, three assists and seven rebounds for the Dolphins. Baker contributed 12 points and five rebounds, along with three assists and two steals.

Townes led Saint Rose in scoring with 20 points. 

Here's what Le Moyne Head Coach Mary Grimes had to say after the game:

"What a dog fight. Very proud of Emma Brinker, our game plan was to dominate the paint and I think we did that. Saint Rose is a tough place to play and it's very physical. A few calls didn't go our way but we continued to fight. Down the stretch we needed to make our free throws but I think our legs got the best of us. Saint Rose had their best offensive game of the season and we just didn't defend like we are capable of."

The Le Moyne College women's basketball team will return home to take on Roberts Wesleyan College on Sunday, November 28 at 4:00 p.m. EST at Ted Grant Court.