The Western Illinois University women’s basketball team rallied from a 16-point second half deficit to defeat Southeast Missouri State 74-66 Friday afternoon in the semifinal round of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.
The top-seeded Leathernecks were playing in their first game against a Redhawks squad playing its third game in as many days at the Ford Center in Evansville, Ind.
“That was one of the most courageous performances I’ve seen in my coaching career,” said WIU coach JD Gravina of SEMO’s effort. “To come out that exhausted after having already played two hard games, to carry that momentum for a long as they did was unbelievable.”
A pair of Addi Brownfield free throws gave WIU a 2-0 lead 48 seconds into the game. But SEMO outscored the Leathernecks 18-8 the remainder of the period in grabbing an 18-10 lead.
The eight-seeded Redhawks maintained control in the second quarter, taking a 35-22 lead into halftime.
SEMO sank six 3-pointers in the opening half, while WIU missed all six of its attempts.
In addition, OVC Player of the Year Mia Nicastro was held scoreless in the opening 20 minutes.
“I apologized for my first half,” said Nicastro of her talking to the team at halftime. “I said that I have to do better. That was on me. My teammates needed me to be better.”
“I didn’t yell at them in the locker room,” said Gravina. “I said, ‘We have to go.’” “We had still done some good things while getting good shots. It was just a matter of settling in and playing at a high level,” he added.
But when Raissa Nsabua sank a 3-pointer at the 7:24 mark of the third period, the SEMO lead was at its largest at 42-26.
Western faced a similar situation a week ago in its regular season finale against Lindenwood. The Leathernecks trailed by 17 points in the third quarter of that contest before rallying.
“It kind of gave us the road map to this game,” said Gravina.
So the comeback began, and by the end of the period, WIU had sliced its deficit in half, trailing 47-39.
“Having this experience is just so important,” said Gravina of his veteran players. “Having been through this so many times, you just never felt like they were giving up.”
A pair of Kearra Jones free throws pushed the lead back to 10, but Brownfield connected on three consecutive 3-pointers. And when Mallory Shetley scored on a layup with 7:10 to go, the deficit was narrowed to 54-50.
“I think that first shot just got the lid off the basket for us,” said Brownfield of the first of her three treys. “After that, we got rolling.”
“Basketball’s funny. You need that one little play or that one little spark to carry you the rest of the game,” said Brownfield.
“The first one was huge for us. I’m glad it went in,” she added.
An Allie Meadows jumper knotted the contest at 58-58 with 3:52 left.
Still tied at 58-58, the turning point of the game came with 1:23 remaining.
SEMO’s Ainaya Williams was whistled for her fourth foul against Nicastro. Williams then slammed the ball to the court in frustration and was then whistled for a technical foul.
Nicastro made all four free throws and Shetley scored on the ensuing possession, giving WIU a 64-58 lead with 58 seconds to go.
“That was clearly the swing in the game,” said Gravina. “You hate to see that.”
“That’s part of basketball sometimes. You catch those breaks,” he added. “Credit to our girls for taking advantage of that break.”
SEMO got no closer than five points the rest of the way as Western went 8-of-8 from the free throw line in the final 41 seconds.
Shetley had a season-high for Western (25-5), finishing with 27 points that included 12-of-17 shooting from the field.
The effort also put her past 2,500 points in her collegiate career.
“I think overall, I just let the game come to me,” said Shetley. “I don’t think anybody was trying to play outside of themselves. We were just taking it possession by possession.”
“I needed to do my part and get my team going,” she added. “We were just going to have to chip at it through the whole game.”
“All of our team really stepped up to get that win.”
Brownfield finished with 17 points and six rebounds.
“Mallory stepped up and had a great complete game and then Addi Brownfield just went Addi Brownfield mode,” said Gravina.
“That’s what I love about this team and what’s so special about us,” said Nicastro. “I can have zero points in the first half and they’re going to pick me up. Everyone’s going to pick up the slack when someone needs help.”
But Nicastro rebounded in the second half, finishing with a double-double of 16 points and 11 rebounds. She also had a team-leading four assists.
Madison Davis added eight points and Meadows six for WIU.
The Leathernecks had 14 fewer shots (64-50), but made two more field goals (25-23).
Western also finished 21-of-22 from the free throw line, including a perfect 12-of-12 in the fourth quarter.
Carmen Taylor topped SEMO (14-18) with 19 points, including five 3-pointers.
Lexi McCully added 17 off the bench for the Redhawks, including four treys.
SEMO finished the game 11-of-29 from 3-point range nd held a 36-33 rebounding advantage.
