March 14, 2008

Box Score |  Quotes

CANYON, Texas - In the first ever West Texas A&M basketball postseason game at the First United Bank Center, the top-seeded Lady Buffs were upended by No. 8-seed Northwest Missouri State, 72-71, in overtime on a desperation half-court buzzer beater by junior Bearcat Meghan Brue. WTAMU, ranked 10th in the country in the most recent national poll, ends its season with an overall record of 26-5, while NWMSU improves to 18-13 and advances to the D-II South Central Regional Semifinal against fourth-seeded Emporia State.

"Well I thought it was a great game," said WT head coach Krista Gerlich. "I don't think you can explain anything like that, except it just wasn't meant to be."

Freshman Joni Unruh ended play with a career-high 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while junior Emily Brister again led the team with 21 points. Also finishing in double-figure scoring for WT was junior Jamie Dreiling, who tallied 10 points and six rebounds. Fellow classmate Courtney Lee put up solid numbers with nine points, six rebounds and four assists.

The Lady Buffs were a bit tight to start the game, misfiring on their first six shots from the field but Dreiling finally broke the lid off the bucket with a lay-up off of a rebound at the 16:19 mark to knot the game at 4-4.

A jumper in the paint from Andrea Dill gave the Bearcats an 8-6 lead after a pair of free throws from Brister had again deadlocked the game at 6-6 in the previous possession..

Unruh gave WT a short-lived advantage at 10-8 as she broke free for a lay-up with 12:27 to play, but a Bearcat three-pointer on the next trip down the court gave the visitors the lead at 11-10. Unruh again pushed the Lady Buffs on top during their next possession as the freshman from Amarillo sank a pair of free throws.

Northwest Missouri State regained the lead with 9:20 to play as April Miller set up Mandi Schumacher with a nice lob pass and Schumacher laid the ball in to put the Bearcats up 13-12.

A lay-up from Courtney Lee with 7:33 to play put the Lady Buffs up 14-13 and sparked an 18-6 run to end the half by WT, which included three-pointers on back-to-back possessions by Brister and Unruh. The run was maintained by great play by WT on the defensive end of the court, as they held the Bearcats to just two points for 6:39 until a Schumacher lay-up with under a minute to play.

As time expired in the opening half, sophomore Holly Isaacs drained a three-pointer to give the Lady Buffs all the momentum and send them to the locker room leading 32-19.

Out of the intermission, the Lady Buff lead peaked at 14 on a three-pointer by junior point guard Dixie Bell, but the Bearcats were able to claw their way back into the ball game with a 14-7 run that left them down just six points at 39-33 after Lauren Williams sank two free throws.

Unruh continue her spectacular play as she connected on a three-pointer with 13:45 remaining to put a stop to the Northwest Missouri run and give the Lady Buffs a 42-33 lead; just over a minute later, Unruh grabbed the ball from NWMSU's April Miller and sank a fastbreak lay-up to push WT's lead back to nine points, 44-35, with 12:42 to play.

An old-fashion three point play from Jessica Burton again cut the WT lead to six, 44-38, with 12:29 remaining, but one more time the Lady Buffs turned to their long distance shooting to put points on the board when Isaacs nailed her second three-pointer of the game at the 11:34 mark.

The Lady Buff lead dwindled to just three, 47-44, with 9:11 remaining as NWMSU's Kelli Nelson connected on a three-pointer and then to only one, 49-48, as Nelson made a fast break lay-up with 7:11 left on the clock.

Northwest Missouri was able to take its first lead since the 9:20 mark of the first half when Schumacher made a short jumper from the baseline with 6:33 left in regulation.

Dreiling made a pair of free throws with 6:03 remaining to recapture the lead for the Lady Buffs and then added a lay-up on WT's next trip down the court to put the top-seeded Lady Buffs up 53-50.

After a pair of free throws by the Bearcats cut the lead to only two, Dreiling again stepped up for WT and made a nice move in the low block to score and regain the four-point advantage for the Lady Buffs.

The lead expanded to eight, 59-51, on a pair of Brister free throws followed by an Unruh rebound and put-back with 3:38 on the clock.

Northwest Missouri remained strong, though, scoring three straight baskets to cut the lead to just a single possession at 59-57 with 2:10 to play.

Isaacs dodged a defender and stepped just inside the three-point line to put WT up 61-57, but a quick basket on the other end left the game as just a one-possession affair, 61-59, with 1:32 on the clock.

The Bearcats' Burton tied the game with 22 ticks left in regulation and a three-point attempt by Holly Isaacs narrowly missed its mark to send the game to overtime.

During the first possession of the extra session, Northwest's Brue nailed a three-pointer to put her team up 64-61. After a pair of unconverted opportunities on the offensive end for the Lady Buffs, another Bearcat three-pointer by Brue gave the No. 8 seed a 67-61 advantage.

Brister cut the lead in half with a three-pointer of her own at the 3:13 mark, leaving the score 67-64 in favor of NWMSU.

A defensive stop on the other end and a foul sent Courtney Lee to the line for WT, where she made one of two opportunities to pull the Buffs within two points, 67-65, with 1:55 remaining on the clock.

Back at the free throw line, Unruh made a pair to tie the game at 67-67 with 1:21 remaining. On the inbounds pass, senior Jenessa McKray snagged the errant pass from the Bearcats' Miller, but Lee's three-point shot missed and Schumacher grabbed a defense rebound.

However, Miller again gave the ball back to WT as she committed another turnover then fouled Brister to send WT's best free throw shooter to the charity stripe. With nerves of steel and just 27 seconds left in the game, Brister sank both free throw attempts to put the Lady Buffs ahead, 69-67.

Brister was called for a foul at the other end of the court and Burton matched free throws to tie the game yet again.

The Lady Buffs charged down court and Brister took a jumper with six seconds to go; Lee grabbed the offensive rebound and sank a baseline fade-away jumper to push WT ahead, 71-69, with two ticks on the clock.

NWMSU called a timeout and on the ensuing inbounds pass, Brue took two steps over the half-court line and threw up a dead-on shot that swished through the net just as time expired to win the game for the Bearcats.

Northwest Missouri State advances to the South Central Regional semifinal game, where the team will face Emporia State at 8 p.m. at the First United Bank Center in Canyon.

For the Lady Buffs, the future continues to look bright as the team loses only one senior, McKray, off this season's roster.