SALEM, West Virginia - Fresh off an overtime win over the weekend, the Salem women's basketball team was right into another overtime battle this afternoon. This time the opposition was the Panthers of Virginia Union, and, despite an impressive return to action for Daniela Quesada, the Tigers came up short by a score of 64-63. 

In the first period, Salem had their work cut out for them early as Virginia Union took control of the game early. Salem battled back behind the play of Daniela Quesada, who returned to action after nearly 2 months out of the lineup with an injury. With Quesada running the Salem offense from the point guard position, Salem brought the game back to a tight 17-15 Virginia Union led game by the end of the quarter. 

For the second, Salem continued to put pressure on the Panthers, and the game remained closely contested. The play of Daniela Quesada seemed to awaken the Tigers offense as Liliani Krause and Anna Machytkova found some much needed buckets for Salem. With the Salem offense in full swing, they took control of the game and led by a score of 28-26 at half. 

In the third, it became apparent that this game was going to go down to the wire. Neither team was able to muster much more than a one possession lead. By the end of the period, it was a dead heat at 46-46 thanks to two Krause free throws to round out the quarter for the Tigers. 

In the fourth, the game remained closely contested, and Salem looked towards their outside shooting to keep them in the game. That plan worked decently well with big three point shots from Emerson Wells and Quesada kept the game close. However, an errant Anete Bluma jumper missed the mark for the Tigers in the closing seconds, and we had a second consecutive overtime battle on our hands for the Tigers.

For the overtime period, the Tigers still had a battle on their hands. Virginia Union took an early lead, but the Tigers would battle back. To bring the game within two with just second left on the clock, a Panther foul put Daniela Quesada at the line shooting three, but she came up short on 2 out of the three attempts. That would seal a heartbreaking loss for the Tigers with a 64-63 scoreline. 

On the stats sheet, it was clearly Daniela Quesada who led the way for Salem as she racked up 22 points in her return. Liliani Krause also had a great night for Salem as she put together a double double with 16 points and 16 rebounds. 

With the tough result tonight, Salem will need to reset quickly as they are headed to Harrogate, Tennessee on January 11th to take on the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters at 5:30 PM.