FRISCO, Texas --The 2019 Air Force Reserve C-USA Women’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco tipped off Wednesday with two lower-seeded. (9) North Texas edged (8) Southern Miss, 49-46 in the lid-lifter, while (5) Old Dominion posted a 60-32 victory over (12) Florida Atlantic. The afternoon slate opened with (7) Charlotte tightening the defense down the stretch to beat (10) Louisiana Tech, 55-46 and (11) UTEP upsetting (6) Marshall, 64-56.
Championship Central
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First Round Game 1
(9) North Texas 49, (8) Southern Miss 46
Terriell Bradley scored 16 points as North Texas held off a late charge by Southern Miss to win, 49-46, in the opening game of the 2019 Air Force Reserve C-USA Women’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco. The ninth-seeded Mean Green (15-14) will advance to face No. 1 seed Rice at 11 am CT on Thursday.
Southern Miss (17-13) opened up with the first six points of the game but went on an 8:58 second stretch without a point. That dry spell helped North Texas to go on a 26-8 run to close the first half and take a 12-point lead to the locker room. Bradley led the charge for the Mean Green, connecting on 3 three-pointers and scoring 10 points during that stretch.
Shonte Hailes hit her first three shots of the second half for the Golden Eagles, including a three-pointer, to cut into the North Texas lead early in the third quarter. Alarie Mayze was scoreless in the first half, but she posted eight points in the third, helping the Golden Eagles tie the game at 35-35 late in the stanza.
A flurry of activity occurred in the game’s final minute. With North Texas up 47-45, NT’s Charlene Sheperd fouled Hailes with 40.6 seconds left, fighting over a screen. Hailes was shaken up on the play and had to be replaced to shoot the free throws. Allie Kennedy came in and hit first free throw, but missed the second. Southern Miss rebounded but missed two shots that could have put them in the lead. After a North Texas timeout, Bradley was fouled and connected on both free throws to extend the Mean Green lead to 49-46 with seven seconds remaining. The Golden Eagles had one last chance to tie, but Hailes three-pointer would not fall.
The Mean Green won despite not making a field goal over the last 6:36 of the game. Bradley was the only North Texas player to score in double figures as the Mean Green used a balanced effort for victory. Of the 10 players that saw action for NT, nine scored, all 10 registered a rebound, seven posted an assist and five blocked a shot.
Hailes finished with a team high 16 points for Southern Miss, while Mayze added 10. Respect Leaphart pulled down eight first half rebounds and finished with a career-high 13 boards.
NOTES:
*North Texas won its first round game for the fourth consecutive year.
*The game was the lowest-scoring C-USA Championship game since 2009 (Tulane 49, Tulsa 44).
First Round Game 2
(5) Old Dominion 60, (12) Florida Atlantic 32
In a rematch of a regular-season finale, No. 5 Old Dominion toppled No. 12 Florida Atlantic, this time in more commanding fashion, 60-32 in Wednesday’s first-round tourney opener. Less than one week ago, the Monarchs edged the Owls by four, but took advantage of an injury-plagued Florida Atlantic team to advance to the C-USA Quarterfinals. This is the first postseason meeting between the two squads and Old Dominion will be the one to survive and advance to face No. 4 WKU at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday.
Old Dominion rosters one of the youngest teams in the nation and became one of four Division I teams to increase its win total by 12 or more games since last season. Riding the momentum of a now four-game win streak, the Monarchs held Florida Atlantic to a combined 16 points in the second half and just four in the second quarter. Florida Atlantic’s point total is an all-time C-USA Championship single-game low. The Owls conclude their season with a 5-25 overall mark.
Old Dominion placed three in double-figures. Dejah Carter, Ajah Wayne and Taylor Edwards each registered 10 points. Edwards hit 4-of-7 shots from the floor and added six rebounds. Carter and Wayne each reached eight rebounds and Edwards chipped in six assists. Florida Atlantic guard Glenisha Harkless led the Owls in scoring with 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
The Monarchs shot 33 percent from field goal range while holding the Owls to a 24 percent clip. ODU won the battle of the boards 63-30 and forced 13 steals and 22 Owl turnovers.
The first quarter saw both teams knotted up at nine before Edwards hit a jumper with just over four minutes to gain a lead for Old Dominion that would never be surrendered. The Monarchs would go on a 10-0 run to close out the first half and stretch the advantage to 18 points (34-16). The deficit only grew out of the break and a pair of free throws from Wayne in the final seconds of the third frame made it a 25-point contest. Florida Atlantic’s Addison Ryan would hit the team’s second trey of the final quarter with the clock showing 15 seconds.
NOTES:
*Old Dominion’s 32 points allowed were the lowest during Coach McCray’s tenure.
* Florida Atlantic’s point total is an all-time C-USA Championship single-game low.
First Round Game 3
(7) Charlotte 55, (10) Louisiana Tech 46
Jade Phillips scored 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Charlotte clamped down on defense in the fourth quarter to post a 55-46 win over Louisiana Tech at the 2019 Air Force Reserve C-USA Women’s Basketball Championship presented by Baylor Scott & White Sports Performance Center at The Star in Frisco. The seventh-seeded 49ers (18-11) will advance to face No. 2 seed UAB at 1:30 pm CT on Thursday.
Charlotte jumped out to a 15-6 lead after the first quarter. Jazmin Harris led the way with five points and six rebounds in the opening stanza, with Mariah Linney topping all scorers with six.
Louisiana Tech (14-16) would heat up in the second quarter, going on a 14-0 run that gave the Lady Techsters a 22-17 lead. LA Tech held Charlotte scoreless for more than six minutes as it outscored the 49ers 19-6 in the quarter, connecting on 8-of-15 shots from the field.
Following a back-and-fourth third quarter, Charlotte began its rally midway through the fourth. With LA Tech leading 46-41 with 3:47 to play, the 49ers went on a 6-0 run, culminating with a Jett-Wilson layup with 2:00 remaining that gave Charlotte its first lead since they were up 17-15 early in the second quarter.
From there, it was Charlotte’s defense that provided the key to victory, holding the Lady Techsters off the scoreboard the remainder of the contest, as the Niners closed with a 14-0 run. LA Tech missed its final 13 field goal attempts, closing out a 1-of-23 shooting performance in the final quarter.
Linney joined Phillips in double-digit scoring for the 49ers with 13 points.
Anthony, the fifth-leading scorer in the nation, netted a team-high 15 for LA Tech, while Harris contributed eight points and 13 rebounds.
NOTES:
*The 27 field goal attempts by Louisiana Tech’s Kierra Anthony was one shy of the C-USA Championship record of 28.
*Six different Charlotte players recorded a blocked shot, with five taking place in the second half.
First Round Game 4
(11) UTEP 64, (6) Marshall 56 (2OT)
No. 11 UTEP uprooted No. 6 Marshall 64-56 in Wednesday’s final first-round matchup. The upset was the league’s first double overtime contest since a triple OT in 2006. The Miners have claimed back-to-back C-USA tournament wins for the first time since 2014 and will look to add another on Thursday, when the team faces No. 3 Middle Tennessee in a 2 p.m. quarterfinal.
UTEP is currently caught by the injury bug and has just seven available players, but managed to place three in double-figures. Jordan Alexander posted 16 points, Ariona Gill tallied 14 and Katarina Zac registered 12. The team shot 42 percent from the floor and out-rebounded 56-39. Poor shooting plagued Marshall with just a 23 percent clip, though three ended up in double-figures and Taylor Pearson inked a double-double on 11 points and 12 rebounds. Taylor Porter and Shayna Gore notched 10 and 25 points, respectively.
UTEP improved to 9-21 on the year and Marshall ended its 2018-19 slate at 16-14. The Miners fought to stay in the game most of the day and took their first lead with 2:03 to play in the fourth quarter. From there, all players honed in and it quickly became a dog fight with Porter hitting a pair of free throws to send the game into overtime.
The Miners grabbed the first four OT points before Marshall strung together six-straight to take a 2-point lead with 14 seconds left. Gill was fearless with the clock winding down and put up a buzzer-beating layup to keep the game alive. UTEP would command the action the rest of the way and scored the game’s final six points to silence Marshall.
Marshall jumped out to a 10-7 lead in the first stanza. Fouls paved way for multiple trips to the charity stripe and a pair from the Miners had the game locked at five apiece with just under two minutes to play. Shayna Gore tallied the remaining five points on two frees and a 3-pointer before UTEP could reach another layup to chip away.
A lack of offensive execution on both sides kept defenses on their toes, but Marshall had enough in the tank to create some distance in the second quarter. The Thundering Herd lead reached as far as nine with two minutes to play until UTEP sunk two final shots to cut into the deficit 20-16.
Marshall held off the Miners in the third frame, at one point leading by double-digits, but that all would change in the fourth. A layup from Pearson padded Marshall’s lead to nine early before a persistent UTEP would battle to close the deficit to one by way of a quick shot in the paint followed by two frees from Zec.
A Jordan Alexander jumper at the two-minute mark put UTEP ahead for the first time in the game while Marshall struggled to hit a shot within a five-minute span. The Thundering Herd found itself back on top 44-43 with two foul shots, but it was a back and forth affair until a foul on Porter and her two good charity shots gave Marshall hope to close the books.
NOTES:
*UTEP earned its second OT postseason win in program history. The Miners previously lost to Marshall 72-70 in 2009.