Our halftime adjustments and legs at the end of the game are just ridiculous at this point. Another 20-9 4th quarter turns an 8 point deficit into a 3 pojnt victory. Ohio was a tricky team to play, as they essentially play 5 guards and force you into a lot of things you don't normally do to try to win. But win we did, in another amazing comeback victory over a 30-5 team (now 30-6) who had not lost to a nonconference opponent, We predictably crushed them on the board (41-26) but that did not translate into points, as our bigs were consistently frustrated by smaller, quicker guards. And, with PKA gettng her 4th foul halfway through the third quarter, it seemed that we would have a tough hill to climb. But PKA checked back into a game at the beginning of the 4th, a gamble that paid off as she did not pick up another foul, and two Ohio starters fouled out instead!.
Jordan Hamilton, whose minutes are still limited by what looked like a season-ending ankle injury a few weeks ago, made the biggest shot of the game to cut the lead to 2 with under 4 minutes left, after Ohio had match all of our runs with runs on their own. Ohio immediately responded with an and-one, but couldn't convert the free throw, and would only score 2 points the rest of the game (on a bucket we allowed them to have up 3 with 5 seconds left), thanks to our typical lockdown defense, limiting Ohio to 27% in the final quarter, including 0-4 from 3.
Liindsey Pulliam, still bothered by a shoulder injury, led the way with 22 points, but only only 5-18 shooting. But she was clutch at the line, going 12-15, including 4-4 at the end to ice it. Veronica Burton, the super-freshman who has been amazing down the stretch, added 15 and 6 assists, including 3-4 from 3-pt range. PKA only had 9 due to the aforementioned foul trouble, but added 16 rebounds. Jordan Hamilton had 9 points and 3 assists in only 25 minutes of action.
With the win, we notch our third 20-win season in the last 5, after zero such seasons in the previous 15, and move on to the WNIT Final Four to face the winner of Georgetown- James Madison.