KATY, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana University women's basketball team moved one step closer to history with a 59-54 overtime victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament Saturday afternoon in the Merrell Center.
With the win, the Lady Lions (16-10) advance to their first-ever Southland Conference Tournament final. SLU will face UIW (12-16), which routed top-seeded HBU, 54-33, in Saturday's other semifinal.
The championship game tips off Sunday at 1 p.m. and will be televised on CBS Sports Network. The winner will receive the league's automatic berth in the 68-team NCAA Tournament field, which will be announced Sunday at 7 p.m. (CDT) on ESPN.
"I'm proud of the fight and determination this group showed tonight," Southeastern head coach
Ayla Guzzardo said. "We have a lot of respect for the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi program and we knew this was going to be a battle. Our team thrives on adversity and we're just so proud of how they responded."
Neither team led by more than eight in a tightly-contested back-and-forth contest that featured 13 lead changes and 10 ties.
The Islanders (19-10) led 50-47 after a tough shot by Makinna Serrata, who finished with a game-high 25 points. With the season on the line and first team All-Southland Conference
Caitlyn Williams having fouled out, Guzzardo went to one of her steadiest players. Two-time All-Southland performer
Hailey Giaratano, one of two Lady Lions in double figures with 15 points, got free and knocked down the game-tying three with 13.2 seconds left.
"Coach told me that they were running the play for me and I was going to make the shot," Giaratano said. "The play actually didn't work at first, but Lex found me and I just thought 'Here goes' and it went in."
On the ensuing possession, Giaratano played good defense on Serrata, whose jumper from the right baseline was just off target to send the game into overtime.
The game remained deadlocked through the first three minutes of extra time, before
Alexius Horne hit the biggest shot of her Lady Lion career. Horne, who finished with a team-high 17 points, broke the tie for good with a three from the top of the key to put the Lions up, 57-54, with 1:35 remaining.
On the next Islander possession, freshman
Taylor Bell stole the ball from Serrata, but the Lady Lions committed a shot clock violation to give Texas A&M-Corpus Christi one more chance.
Violet Verano launched a three from the left wing, but it was off the mark. Giaratano cleaned up the glass and fired a perfect full-court pass to Bell, who caught it in stride and put in an easy layup to ice the victory with under 15 seconds remaining.
Southeastern will move on face an Incarnate Word team that has been red-hot in Katy with wins over Nicholls, McNeese and HBU. First team All-Southland Conference guard Jaaucklyn Moore is the conference's leading scorer, averaging 17.9 points per game. Like SLU, the Cardinals are looking for their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance.
SLU is 4-6 all-time versus Incarnate Word. The two teams split this season with both protecting their home courts. Southeastern won, 76-49, in Hammond on Jan. 29 before falling, 57-54, in San Antonio on Feb. 19.
Southeastern 59 (16-10)
Williams 4-8 0-0 5, Cunningham 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 1-6 0-0 3, Horne 6-15 3-4 17, Giaratano 6-11 0-0 15, Ducksworth 2-9 0-0 4, Kelly 0-3 0-0 0, Bell 4-8 0-0 8, Davis 2-6 0-0 4, Harvey 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 25-68 3-4 59.
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 54 (19-10)
Westbrook 2-3 9-10 13, Wraggs 2-4 0-0 4, Allen 1-5 2-2 5, Serrata 10-16 3-4 25, Verano 1-6 1-2 10, McGill 0-1 0-0 0, Aguado 0-1 2-2 2, Campbell 1-3 0-0 2, Ellis –3 0-0 0, Powell 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 17-44 17-20 54.
End of 1
st Quarter – AMCC 13, SLU 8. Halftime – AMCC 22, SLU 20. End of 3
rd Quarter – SLU 35, AMCC 33. 3-point goals – SLU 6-15 (Giaratano 3-4, Horne 2-5, Brown 1-3, Harvey 0-2, Bell 0-1), AMCC 3-8 (Serrata 2-3, Allen 1-1, Verano 0-2, Westbrook 0-1, Campbell 0-1). Technical Fouls – None. Fouled Out – Williams. Rebounds – SLU 32 (Four with 5), AMCC 39 (Westbrook 9). Assists – SLU 14 (Horne 5), AMCC 14 (Verano 10). Total Fouls – SLU 15, AMCC 16. A – 854.
2022 Southland Conference Women's Basketball Tournament | March 10-13 | Merrell Center | Katy, Texas
First Round – Thursday, March 10
Game 1 – No. 5 UIW 74, No. 8 Nicholls 73
Game 2 – No. 7 New Orleans 57, No. 6 Northwestern State 48
Second Round – Friday, March 11
Game 3 – UIW 90, No. 4 McNeese 63
Game 4 - No. 3 Southeastern 80, New Orleans 66
Semifinals – Saturday, March 12
Game 5 - UIW 54, No. 1 HBU 33
Game 6 - Southeastern 59, No. 2 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 54
Championship – Sunday, March 13
1 p.m. – Game 7 – UIW vs. Southeastern (CBS Sports Network)
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Women's Basketball, follow @LionUpWBB on Twitter, like /SoutheasternWBB on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
CLEAR BAG POLICY
Southeastern Athletics has instituted a clear bag policy for all ticketed events. For more information on the clear bag policy, visit
www.LionSports.net/clear.
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