SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of the Incarnate Word women's basketball team will look back on Thursday night's game against Southland Conference rival McNeese State University and know that it was there for the taking. The visiting Cowgirls (10-7, 4-2) held off the Cardinals (5-11, 2-3), 104-101 in double overtime at the McDermott Center.
The Cardinals nearly pulled out the victory despite having three starters foul out and a fourth leave the game early with an injury. UIW played a great game except for two things, free throw shooting and turnovers. The Cardinals shot 15-of-32 as a team from the charity stripe and they committed 23 turnovers. Twelve of the turnovers came in the first half when the Cowgirls used full court pressure to build a double-digit lead.
The Cardinals had one of their highest scoring halves of the season in the first half, but found themselves trailing 53-44 due McNeese shooting 67.7 percent from the floor. The second half began with a bucket by the visitors, but then UIW followed with an 11-0 run to tie the game at 55-55 on a Haley Frias (Georgetown/Georgetown HS) jumped in the lane. From that point on, neither team led by more than three points until late in the first overtime.
The second half featured 11 ties and seven lead changes. The Cardinals twice took the lead in the final 1:10 of regulation only to see Jayln Johnson tie it up both times. The Cardinals had the ball at the end, but were unable to attempt a good shot so the game went to overtime tied at 84-84.
In the first overtime, the Cardinals led 93-89 and had the ball with under a minute to play. Jazmine Holman (Arlington/Arlington Bowie HS), who played the game of her life, was whistled for an offensive foul with 40 seconds remaining and it was her fifth foul. The Cowgirls quickly scored to pull to within two points and then Yvonne Maosa (Mansfield/Mansfield HS) appeared to get fouled, but no call was made and she was instead whistled for traveling. McNeese State's Allison Baggett missed a jumper and the ball went out of bounds to UIW. The Cardinals were able to get the ball in bounds, but then missed two free throws. Johnson raced end-to-end and made a layup with 0.6 left on the clock to send it to a second overtime.
At that point, the Cardinals were missing three starters, but they still made the Cowgirls earn the win. McNeese went up by five points with 1:24 left, but Frias answered with a three-pointer to cut it to two points just seven seconds later. The Cardinals got a stop on defense, but once again missed two free throws. They made one more defensive stop and still had a chance to tie or take the lead in the final 10 seconds. A baseline jumper did not fall and McNeese grabbed the rebound to secure the win.
The Cardinals shot over 50 percent from the field for a second straight game connecting on 52.6 percent of their shots. They were 6-of-10 from three-point range, but only made 46.9 percent of their free throws. Aricka Adams (Round Rock/Round Rock HS) led the team with 23 points while Maosa had her second straight double-double-with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Holman nearly recorded a quadruple-double with 11 points, 12 assists, eight rebounds and seven steals. Frias finished with 16 points while Shanise Brooks (Topeka, KS/Highland Park HS) and Breanna Birmingham (Battle Creek, MI/Harper Creek HS) each had 11 points. The team finished with 21 offensive rebounds and had 15 more total rebounds than the Cowgirls. They did commit five more turnovers than McNeese State.
The Cowgirls shot 52.1 percent from the field, made 6-of-16 from three-point range and were 22-of-33 at the foul line. Johnson finished with 25 points and 10 assists while Baggett also scored 25 points. Talisa Boyd had 11 points and 15 rebounds and Mercedes Rogers came off the bench to score 10 points and grab 10 boards.
The Cardinals are back in action on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Southland rival Abilene Christian University.
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