LAKE WALES, Fla. - In one of the best regular season games in recent memory, the College of Coastal Georgia women's basketball team dropped a thrilling double overtime contest to the Warner Royals by a final of 70-68 in Lake Wales, Fla. on Saturday afternoon. \

CCGA shot just 4-18 from the three point line and 18-29 from the free throw line, missing multiple key free throw attempts down the stretch leading to their double overtime loss.  

The Mariners (4-2, 0-1 SUN) started out hot with a three pointer right off the bat from Taylor Gardner to start the scoring, but after that make, Warner went on a 10-2 run until the 3:49 mark when Tyler Butler crashed the boards and cleaned up a miss from Morgon Webb to get the Mariners back into the scoring column. The momentum was short lived, however, as Aalyah Watson came right down the court and buried a three pointer to extend the Royals (4-0, 1-0 SUN) lead to 13-7 with three and a half minutes to play in the quarter. Gracie Hearon added a layup and Peyton Shafer took one of her own steals the distance to close out the scoring for the Mariners in the quarter, but it was Warner who took a 14-11 lead into the second quarter.
 

Julia Gilbert scored six for the Royals in the quarter, with both of her field goals coming from behind the three point line, providing a spark for the Warner offense. 

The second quarter was a defensive stalemate for both sides, as the Mariners did not get their first basket until the 5:24 mark in the second quarter when a jumper from Hearon ended a period of six plus minutes with zero points for the Mariners. Both sides continued to battle, and CCGA mounted a small 7-4 run to climb back in the game, and with 1:42 left in the half, Webb laid the ball in to tie the game up at 22 a piece. For the remainder of the quarter, Warner outscored CCGA 6-2 and took a four point 28-24 lead into the locker room. 

Butler and Hearon led the Mariners at the break with eight points each, with just five Mariners recording one or more points in the half. Gardner and Hearon both grabbed six boards a piece, and Shafer finished the half with three steals. Bethany Howard led the Royals into the locker room with 11 points, three rebounds, and two assists. Gilbert followed with six of her own, and made two of the three three pointers for Warner in the half. CCGA held the advantage in field goal percentage 31 percent to 28 percent, but shot just 12 percent from behind the arc, going 1-8 in the half. 

Both sides struggled out of the gate, but CCGA started the quarter on a 4-0 run for the first three minutes of the game as Hearon's layup tied the game back up once again with just under eight minutes to play in the third. With a two point game at the media timeout, the Royals come out on fire after the timeout, going on a 7-1 run to extend their lead back up to six with just over two to play in the quarter. With their deficit as much as eight with just two minutes in the quarter, the Mariners ended the quarter on a 6-0 run, turning the Royals over three times to get right back in the contest. With just 10 minutes left in the game, the Royals led 41-39 going into the fourth. 

To begin the fourth, Webb fired in a three pointer, the first for the Mariners since Gardner's to begin the game, and CCGA took their first lead of the game since their 3-2 lead. White the lead was short lived, CCGA got it right back on another three pointer, this time from Gardner, as the Mariners took a three point lead with 6:32 left in the game. With the Mariners up 47-45, both sides went on a scoring lull until Tyler Butler went 2-2 from the free throw line with 3:09 remaining in the game to put CCGA up four. Courtney Logan, the Royals leading scorer coming into the contest, clanged home a hard layup out of a timeout from Warner to cut the lead down to two with 2:20 in the game, and after a missed layup from Webb, Logan fired and made a three to retake the lead. A moving screen ended the next Mariners possession, and Logan ocne again found herself with a chance to extend the lead when she got fouled and went 1-2 from the free throw line to put the Royals up two. The Mariners went right down the court and fed the ball to Butler who missed her first attempt but cleaned up her own miss with a layup to tie the game at 51 a piece. With 25 seconds on the clock, the Mariners fouled Kalyah Watson where she went 1-2 from the line, giving the Mariners the ball with less than 30 seconds and a chance to win the game. With the ball in play, Shafer drove the lane and picked up a foul, but went 1-2 from the line as the game was tied once again, this time at 52-52 with 14 seconds on the clock. After forcing a turnover, the Mariners had a chance to win the game, but Shafer's layup was a tad strong and Butler's tip was just a hair too late as the game went into overtime 

The overtime period was as back and forth as it could possibly be with both sides trading baskets, as the Royals led 60-59 with 1:30 left in the game. That lead held until Shafer was fouled driving to the basket, but once again went 1-2 from the line to tie the game at 60. Once again, the Royals were unable to get a shot off in the final seconds as the ball was poked away and out of bounds as time expired, which sent us to a second overtime period. 

The first points of the second overtime period came from the charity stripe and Howard as she went 1-2 from the line to give the Royals a one point lead. With 2:25 on the clock, Butler answered with a 1-2 trip of her own to tie the game once again. Webb put the Mariners on top with a nice post move with 1:50 left on the clock, but Logan once again answered a Mariners bucket with a three pointer to put the Royals ahead by one with under a minute to play. Out of a Mariners timeout, Lina Kouchis took the ball and drove the lane for a layup which she made, and converted the and one free throw to make it a two point lead for CCGA. As if the game could not get any wilder, Gilbert ran right down the court and buried a three pointer to put the Royals right back on top by one. A 1-2 trip by the Royals and a 2-2 trip from Butler tied the game once again, but Logan once again crushed the Mariners with a floater in the lane with two seconds on the clock to break the hearts of CCGA, as Warner took the game in double overtime by a final of 70-68. 

Butler, in her first game back after missing three straight games with an ankle injury, led the Marienrs in scoring with 16 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Gardner and Hearon both finished with double doubles, as Gardner had 13 points and 10 rebounds while Hearon finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. 

The Mariners return home to host Southeastern in their conference home opener on Wednesday. Tip off is set for 5:30 p.m. from Howard Coffin Gym.