Birmingham, Ala. – Senior Janice Okeke has been through it all as a Millsaps Major during her career. On Friday night, the lone senior led the Majors with seven points in overtime as her career high 26 points and 15 rebounds led Millsaps to a 79-76 come from behind win over Birmingham-Southern. It was the Majors first win over the Panthers in the programs history and the eighth straight win for Millsaps.
 
The game started out at a high pace with both teams going back and forth as Millsaps raced out to a 14-9 lead thanks to six points by Okeke and four points from freshman Brittnei Earl. The Majors came right back to cut the deficit to one and eventually take the lead thanks to a three ball from junior Shante Morton.
 
From there, it was all BSC as they finished the half on a 19-6 run to take a 43-31 going into the half.
 
Things weren't much better for Millsaps as the Panthers extended their lead to 50-35 with 15:41 remaining in the game. From there, the Majors began to chip away.
 
Morton hit a free throw followed by baskets by freshmen Velvet Johnson and Samantha Perez to bring it down to 10. After a forced turnover, Morton buried a three followed by a layup from Okeke to make it a five points game.
 
Birmingham responded with a three followed by two free throws from Morton and another basket from BSC to bring the score to 55-47. After a free throw from Okeke, the Majors connected on back-to-back three pointers from Johnson and Perez to make it a one point game.
 
The Majors finally went ahead at the 6:27 mark thanks to a jumper from Johnson. The Panthers took the lead right back with a three pointer before Morton answered with a three followed by an Okeke layup to go up 61-58.
 
After a jumper by Johnson to put the Majors up by five with 1:11 remaining, BSC came back with five unanswered points to finish the second half and send the game into overtime. Perez had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but could not get the shot to fall.
 
Okeke began the overtime period with a layup as BSC came back with two free throws and a jumper to take a 67-65 lead. Morton came back down the court and converted on her fifth three pointer of the night to put Millsaps up one. Okeke then came back with a layup to extend the lead to 70-67.
 
The teams went back and forth before they found themselves tied at 76 with 39 seconds remaining.  Johnson broke towards the hoop and converted on the layup with 15 seconds remaining to put Millsaps up two. After a defensive stop, junior Lovie Love converted on one of two free throws to give the Majors the win.
 
With the win, Millsaps improves to 11-2 overall and 3-1 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. Okeke finished with a career night in points and also added two steals and two blocks. Morton had a great night with 20 points while Johnson picked up 17 and the game winning field goal. Sophomore Shatoya White had a great night passing with seven assists.
 
The Majors return to action on Sunday as they travel to Atlanta to take on the Oglethorpe Stormy Petrels. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. (EST).