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KATY, Texas – There wasn’t a winner on Thursday afternoon. Rather, one team simply outlasted the other in an entertaining game in Southland Conference Women’s Basketball history.
Baileigh O’Dell overcame a rough day of shooting to deliver a pair of critical 3-pointers, including the go-ahead trey with 3:44 left in the second overtime that finally allowed eighth-seed Lamar to escape Merrell Center with a 98-95 win over fifth seed Houston Baptist University in a pulse-stopping contest which had seven tournament records either tied or broken.
“We never tell our kids not to shoot,” said Cardinals coach Robin Harmony. “Baileigh knows she’s a shooter. She has no conscience, and, trust me, she doesn’t think about the ones she’s missed.”
Lamar (12-18) couldn’t shoot accurately, was dominated on the glass and played the final 13 minutes of play with guard Addesha Collins nursing an injury, yet the Cardinals dug down deep to find their way into Friday’s 11 a.m. quarterfinal game against fourth-seed McNeese State (ESPN3). The game marked the first time in more than 31 years the Cardinals played in a double-overtime and was also the first women’s tournament contest to reach that point since Texas-San Antonio held off Texas-Arlington in a 2006 semifinal game.
What Lamar was able to do was apply constant pressure on HBU (14-15), as they set a tournament record with 21 steals while also forcing the Huskies into a tourney record 32 turnovers, including 19 after intermission.
“I thought we started off the second half doing a better job of that,” said Houston Baptist coach Donna Finnie. “Their defense forced us. We just didn’t have enough poise overall.”
Collins recorded seven steals on an afternoon where the senior guard led Lamar with 23 points, including a tournament-tying 15 free throws on 18 attempts, which also set a new tournament standard.
The Huskies had one last chance to force a third overtime after Veronica Kirienko hit one of two free throws with nine seconds left. After Ekemini Essien grabbed the offensive rebound on the second attempt, Amanda Johnson’s attempt to tie the game fell short and while Essien tried the fight for the ball, the clock ran out on HBU’s bid for a second straight trip to the tournament final.
Still, the Cardinals had to hold off the play of second-team all-conference forward Anna Strickland, who set a conference single-game record with 31 rebounds, the most this season in Division I play. Strickland broke the 32-year-old record of 28 held by Lamar’s Kara Audrey while adding 21 points, eight assists and seven blocked shots.
Lamar’s defensive pressure and constant forays to the basket resulted in the Cardinals drawing a tournament record 35 fouls against Houston Baptist. The Cardinals made the most of the opportunities, connecting a tournament record 40 times on a 52 attempts, which was also a new tournament standard. On the other end of the court, the Huskies shot just 58 percent from the line, missing on 12 of their 27 attempts in the second half and both overtimes.
The back and forth game began to pick up steam when HBU’s Monet Neal basket tied the score at 76 with 1:47 left, but DeJa Roberts’ free throw with 52 seconds left allowed Lamar to regain the lead. HBU did itself no favors by missing five straight attempts from the line before Lisa Zderadicka hit the front end of a pair of freebies to knot the contest at 77. The Huskies had a chance to win the game in regulation, but Zderadicka’s 3-pointer from the top of the key was partially deflected as the horn sounded.
Khali Pippins-Tryon’s two free throws with 25 seconds left in overtime gave the Cardinals an 86-84 lead, a margin that lasted all of two seconds as Strickland drove in for a layup that tied the game for an 11th time.
“We spent a lot of energy on this, but now we know what it feels like to win a conference (tournament) game,” said Harmony, whose Cardinals were one-and-done the last two years despite having a second and first seed, respectively. “We’re going to play McNeese, and we know they beat us twice. We know we have 40 minutes and we have to get the job done.”
POSTGAME QUOTES:
Lamar Head Coach Robin Harmony
On today’s game…
“I know we played a really good team. I think our young kids finally decided it was time. We’ve been getting beat and they’re heart-breakers. It could have happened today, it got really close. We played great for 40 minutes, but some bad bounces happened our way and our kids didn’t’ fault. It was a gritty win for us. I can’t pick out one or two players. Our starters and our subs came in and found a way to help us and contribute.”
On team effort…
“The kids that subbed in didn’t think about it. We knew going in that Kiara (Desamours) had the stomach flu, but she went out there when most kids wouldn’t. It says a lot about our kids coming off the bench saying that we’re going to get the win, it wasn’t just our starters this time. The whole team, whether they were on the floor or on the bench cheering, they helped us get that win.”
Lamar Freshman Guard Chastadie Barrs
On today’s game…
“It was pretty tough because we are a small team. We had to step up and take on roles that we’re not used to taking on. You just had to do what you had to do and it was pretty tough.”
Lamar Sophomore Forward Laka Blache
On today’s game…
“We practice hard every day when we’re in practice. Our coaches put using tough situations so when we’re in moments like this we’re able to step up. What happened to us today is what scenarios we get to work through in practice. Everyone was excited. We knew we could do it.”
Houston Baptist Head Coach Donna Finnie
On the loss…
“It was real tough game. Give credit to Lamar. I thought both teams really dug in for both overtimes. We can point to so many things that we could’ve done better but we just didn’t finish on so many things. We can talk about free throws, we can talk about executing, to time outs and offensive boards, but I’m really pleased with our effort collectively. We had to play a lot of girls who didn’t have a lot of minutes and they really stepped up, which got us to the second overtime. We just couldn’t finish.”
Houston Baptist Senior Forward Anna Strickland
On her conference-record 31 rebounds…
“I didn’t really know that I had that many rebounds, but it really helped my teammates with boxing out. We really emphasized that in practice.”
Houston Baptist Senior Guard Meghan Shank
On physicality of the game…
“It was definitely a physical game. Lamar is very athletic and they were attacking. We needed to step up more. It was a physical game, but it’s basketball, we should expect that.”