After upsetting the Texas Lady Longhorns in the first round of the Women’s NCAA Tournament, the 11th-seeded Mississippi State Lady Bulldogs basketball team took the Ohio State Buckeyes to the wire before losing in the second round in Columbus, Ohio.
Unfazed by foul trouble, the Lady Bulldogs withstood a late Texas Saturday run to upset the sixth-seeded Lady Longhorns 71-63 in the first round.
After leading 34-24 at the half, the Lady Bulldogs found themselves in foul trouble quickly, with junior point guard Alexis Rack picking up her third foul with 17:51 to go and her fourth with 15:31 to go. It got worse when junior guard Armelie Lumanu picked up her fourth foul with 13:32 remaining, but despite both starting guards going to the bench with four fouls, the Lady Bulldogs extended their lead to 51-39 with 8:03 to go.
Sophomore guard Mary Kathryn Govero said the team emphasized defense for Saturday’s game.
“When you have a key leader like Alexis off the floor, just the fact that people were able to come in off the bench and provide that spark, just to help us maintain our focus and to keep that lead was very important,” she said.
The Lady Longhorns would not go down quietly and made a run of their own, tying it at 59 with freshman guard Ashleigh Fontenette’s jumper with 2:17 to go. From there, the Lady Bulldogs stopped the Lady Longhorn offense in its tracks and hit their final 10 free throw attempts to take the win.
MSU head coach Sharon Fanning said she was proud of her girls’ complete team effort.
“On this basketball team, if and when we’re successful, it takes every single one of them, it takes the bench, it takes all that enthusiasm, the stats, the rebounding column, the free-throws, the percentage,” Fanning said. “For us, this is a big team win and hopefully we can continue to get better as a basketball team.”
The Lady Bulldogs were led by Rack, who, despite spending much of the second half on the bench with four fouls, scored 20 points and was 13-of-13 from the free throw line.
Lumanu registered a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and junior forward Chanel Mokango added 15 points and five rebounds. Govero added 11 points off the bench. As a team, the Lady Bulldogs hit 21 of 22 free throws on the day and held Texas to a field goal percentage of only 30.9.
Senior forward Earnesia Williams scored 17 points for the Lady Longhorns, while junior guard Brittainey Raven added 15 and sophomore guard Kathleen Nash had 11. The Lady Longhorns finished their season with a 21-12 record.
Monday, the Lady Bulldogs lost a nail-biter with the Ohio State Buckeyes. Neither team ever led by more than six points and State fell 64-58 on the Buckeyes’ home floor.
The Lady Bulldogs played a stifling defense in the first half, and junior forward Tysheka Grimes carried the team by scoring 20 points, but the Buckeyes took a 33-31 lead on sophomore forward Sarah Schulse’s layup at the buzzer.
“We were rotating right on defense, everything was happening good for us on defense,” Grimes said. “I guess you could say I felt hot. My teammates were getting me the ball. But in the end, it’s all about teamwork and we worked as a team today.”
The second half remained a back and forth battle, with Rack’s free throw with 6:43 left giving the Lady Bulldogs a 58-54 lead.
Unfortunately for the Lady Bulldogs, it was the last point they would score, as they would commit eight turnovers and miss the rest of their shots, while the Buckeyes hit 10 free throws to win the game 64-58.
Fanning credited the Buckeyes for stepping up and playing with confidence in the final 6:43.
“You have to find ways to win ballgames and you have to keep it simple, and I felt like when [Ohio State] made a couple of big plays, they got a good, strong, confident look, and then I think that we backed off at that particular point,” Fanning said. “I think that we fought for the whole game, but I don’t think that we played smart down the stretch in terms of just, say, the confidence that we have to have.”
Sophomore center and Big 10 Player of the Year Jantel Lavender led the Buckeyes with 20 points. Senior forward Star Allen registered a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Lady Bulldogs were led by Grimes’ 22 points. Rack added 19 points, while Mokango brought down nine rebounds but was held to only two points. The Lady Bulldogs wrapped up their season with a 23-10 record, the third-most wins in school history.