Box Score FRESNO – Chemistry is key to a team's success and some years of it injected into the Humboldt State women's basketball lineup recorded an upset victory Saturday night.
 
After playing together the past two years in junior college, point guard Kersey Wilcox and center Megan Shields propelled HSU over sixth-ranked Western Washington in overtime, 77-68.
 
The upset victory was the first HSU top five upset since overtaking the number one UC San Diego, 74-73, two years ago in Arcata on Feb. 22, 2012.
 
The junior pair were not to be stopped in the extra frame.  Wilcox and Shields accounted for eight of the team's 13 overtime points to help the Lumberjacks (1-1) never trail in the extra time.
 
"We had so many people make big plays for us especially in the second half," stressed HSU head coach Joddie Gleason.  "Kersey and Megan both executed very well and (Dani) Gaumer made a big three.  Elle (Anderson) went two work in the paint for us too."
 
It took a team effort to pull off the upset. 
 
Leading 35-30 on a Shields trip only 58 seconds into the second half, the Vikings went on a 19-4 run over the next 7:25 for the largest difference of the night, 49-39.
 
"We had that five-minute stretch of not playing defense with urgency.  We responded after the timeout to pickup the intensity and played with urgency to get value every single possession on both ends of the court," said the Jacks' coach.  "We were able to get stops and rebounds and had only 15 turnovers in a game that went into overtime."
 
Wilcox guided the Jacks output over the key next six minutes.  The court general registered 13 of the team's next 19 points including the final seven with assists by three Anderson layups and a Kelly Kime coast-to-coast bucket to push HSU into the lead 58-57 at 4:54.
 
Trailing 61-60 with 2:30 left, Wilcox found her three-year teammate Shields for a layup, before finding her a second time, which were turned into two foul shots and 64-63 lead.  One Vikings' foul shot of two with 6.1 seconds would be enough to put the night into overtime tied at 64.
 
HSU would never trailed in the overtime following a Shields drive through the lane in traffic.  The biggest shot came on Gaumer's right wing three-pointer at 3:18 for a 69-66.
 
Shields sealed off her defender on a feed from Jae Shin and grabbed the ensuing defensive rebound.  A Wilcox driving layup down the left side of the lane was enough to seal the win with 50 seconds for a 73-68 tally.
 
Wilcox had her best night since coming to HSU this fall.  The Prineville, Oregon native banked in 23 points with 19 coming in the second half.  She handed out seven assists to only two turnovers with six rebounds and a steal.
 
"Kersey made excellent decisions, distributed the ball and shot well all while guarding their leading scorer," added Gleason.
 
Shields had her own big second half with all 11 points and six of her 10 rebounds of her double-double effort to go with three blocks.
 
The white hot Friday night shooter, Shin, who pumped in 28 points in the first night, netted all 15 of her tallies in the first half.  She did hand out both of her assists to in the second half including the one on Gaumer's triple.
 
Anderson made four of seven attempts for the fourth double figurer scorer with 10 points and five boards.
 
Sumayyah Wiggins chipped in six points, seven rebounds and three blocks.
 
Kime may not have had as many points as usual with four but pulled down 10 caroms and dished out three assists.
 
Gaumer added two rebounds to go with her three-pointer. 
 
Amanda Kunst drained a triple and assisted on two baskets with Jain Tuey had two points and two rebounds.
 
HSU enjoyed a lead for the better part of the first half with a lead by as many as eight points, 27-19, coming on Kunst's long-range shot at 4:34.
 
Western Washington came back to tie the game, 30-30, with 1:40 only to have Wilcox edge HSU in front, 32-30, with a pair of free throws.
 
"This was a huge win for us with starting with two very tough weekends on our schedule (to start the year)," said Gleason. 
 
The second tough tournament will start next Saturday afternoon.
 
HSU will take part in the CCAA/PacWest Challenge with a 3 p.m. affair against host Academy of Art next Saturday, Nov. 17 in San Francisco, before playing Dominican on Sunday in a 1 p.m. tip-off.