ST. LOUIS, Mo. - It was a historic night for the Davenport women's basketball program as they played their first NCAA Division II game at Missouri-St. Louis. The Panthers made things very interesting sending the game into overtime before the Tritons pulled out a 75-67 win on their home court. The Tritons posted a 16-12 record a year ago and were a quality opponent for the Panthers who went 31-4 in the NAIA in 2016-17.

The Tritons controlled the game for the first three quarters and built a 15-point lead going into the final 10 minutes. Missouri-St. Louis increased their lead to 50-31 in the first 1:22 of the fourth quarter when the Panthers began their epic comeback. The lead was trimmed in single digits at 54-46 with 3:49 to play in regulation on a triple by senior Emily Severn.

UMSL split at the free throw line on their next possession and then junior Amanda Merz and sophomore Jenna Falkenberg made back-to-back buckets to make it 55-50 with 2:18 left. Another split at the foul line allowed Davenport to get within a single possession on a Merz three-pointer with 1:17 to go. Jordan Fletcher scored a traditional three-point play to give her team a six-point lead.

Severn fired another three-pointer and Arielle Jackson was called for an offensive foul to give DU a chance to tie. Senior Kelsey Crockett hit arguably the biggest shot of her career with a triple with 23 seconds left to tie it at 59. UMSL went quickly inside after a timeout and the miss was rebounded by Falkenberg. DU called a 30-second timeout to set up the last shot and Falkenberg was blocked by Fletcher near the basket. The Tritons tried a half-court shot at the buzzer that was off the mark.

The Panthers never took a lead in the extra five minutes and were outscored 14-6 in the final 3:21 of overtime. Severn hit the team's first bucket of overtime and DU still was just down 68-65 with 1:28 remaining. Shawnta Johnson and Jackson each made a pair of free throws down the stretch to secure the win for the Tritons.

"We gave up 34 points off turnovers and second-chance points, but because of our fight we got it to overtime and gave ourselves a chance to win it. I am proud of our fight tonight," commented head coach Rick Albro.

Merz had a career-high 16 points shooting 6-of-9 from the floor. She also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out five assists in 33 minutes. Severn led the Panthers with 19 points going 4-of-8 behind the arc. Senior Hannah Wilkerson scored nine points in 33 minutes. Falkenberg finished with nine rebounds and two blocks before fouling out after 20 minutes of action.

The Panthers (0-1) will take the court again tomorrow (Nov. 11) for a 2 p.m. ET tip-off at Maryville (0-1).