VERMILION — Avon got double-doubles from Ashley Evans, Emily Julius and Marlene Michelich as the Eagles came back to defeat West Shore Conference opponent Vermilion Saturday, in overtime, 60-54.

The Sailors had a chance to win the game in regulation, but they turned the ball over on an inbounds pass to give the ball back to the Eagles at their own end of the court with 29 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Evans drove to the hoop to tie the game at 48 with 18 seconds.

Katelyn Peterson quickly advanced the ball to the other end for Vermilion and tried to attempt a shot, but was out of control, and was called for a charge. Evans had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but her jumper was off the mark.

The Eagles (12-5, 9-2) grabbed their first lead of the game in overtime when Evans made a layup off the jump ball. Free throws by Vermilion’s Alex Shuster tied the game at 50, but Avon responded with a 6-0 run to take control of the game.

The final blow came on a Michelich offensive rebound and putback that gave the Eagles a 56-50 lead with two minutes in overtime.

The basketball by Michelich couldn’t have been more fitting, as the Eagles dominated the Sailors (10-7, 6-5) on the boards 44-22.

“We’ve been stressing that a lot especially now that Erin (Entinghe) is out,” said Avon coach Meghan Banks about her team’s rebounding. “We told them they have to be aggressive, because they weren’t going to be the tallest team out there anymore.

“We needed to box out and be strong with the ball, and our girls stepped up to the challenge.”

Julius led the Eagles on the glass with 13, she also added 15 points. Evans scored a game-high 24 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, while Michelich finished with 12 points and 12 boards.

Banks said the road win was very important for the team’s confidence heading down the stretch.

“It’s been a challenging week for us because we lost Erin in the last game, and it’s been hard to adjust,” Banks said. “We explained to our girls that this part of the season is going to define us.

“The first three quarters we weren’t content with missing layups, getting fouls, but we told them they had to come together and play good team ball.”

Early on the Sailors’ up-and-down style of play, led by Shuster gave the Eagles problems and Vermilion went into halftime with a 32-25 advantage. Shuster had 13 of her team-high 23 points in the first half.

Banks went to her bench and summoned Brianna Kistler to guard Shuster in the second half. Kistler (5-foot-8) gave Shuster (5-4) fits with her length in the second half, which allowed the Eagles to get back in the game.

“I just remembered to stay low and move my feet against her,” said Kistler about her defense against Shuster. “She was hitting shot after shot in the first half, so I just wanted to get a hand up, and make her go to her left.”

Schuster was the only player in double figures for the Sailors, who shot 3 of 19 (15 percent) from the three point line, and 9 of 21 (42 percent) from the free throw line.

Sailor coach Steve Kelly said his team couldn’t make enough plays at the end to win the game.

“The end of regulations they did everything I asked them to do, we just couldn’t make shots,” Kelly said. “It’s a team loss. I wish I could have done a couple things differently, and some of the players stood up and said they wish they could have done some things differently. We’re still a good team, we just haven’t played a 32 minute game this year.”