CANYON, Texas (March 14) -- Micha Hester and Karlie Free may not have ever hit bigger shots in their lifetime as Hester drained a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left to force overtime and Free dropped in the game-winning basket with two seconds remaining in the extra session to send third-seeded Central Oklahoma past No. 6-seed St. Mary's, 75-73 at the NCAA Division II South Central Regional here Friday afternoon.
Trailing 61-58 with one possession remaining in regulation, Hester launched a desperation 3-point field goal from well beyond the arc that found nothing but net, tying the score and sending the game into overtime.
UCO trailed by as many as four in the extra session, but four straight points from Mallory Markus, a Kasey Tweed layup and a clutch 3-point field goal by Cassidy Pillow set up Free's late-game heroics as the senior calmly drained an eight-foot jumper from the baseline with two seconds remaining for the game-winner.
Lizzie Brenner notched a team-high 17 points and a game-best 18 rebounds -- the fourth-best game in school history -- while Markus and Tweed added 11 points, Pillow nine, Free eight and Hester six in the dramatic victory.
UCO, making its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division II national tournament, improved to 24-7 on the season and advances into Saturday's 6 p.m. semifinals against No. 2 seed Washburn. St. Mary's saw its 24-game winning streak stopped as it ended the season 25-5.
“This was probably one of the most exciting games I have ever been a part of,” said UCO head coach Guy Hardaker. “I couldn't be happier for this team because they played a great game against a very talented team and we're able to come away with a well-deserved victory. We'll take our time to enjoy this win, but we still have another very important game to prepare for tomorrow night.”
UCO began the contest on a blistering streak, receiving a running jumper from Cristina Yarbrough, a steal and layup by Markus and a pair of Cassidy Pillow free throw makes to race out to a 7-0 lead before St. Mary's staged a 10-0 scoring spurt of its own to take a three-point lead at the 14:40 mark.
A Markus layup followed by four free throw conversions between Brenner and Pillow kept it a one possession deficit, but the Rattlers scored five straight points, opening the gap to a six-point lead, 19-13.
The Rattlers led by as much as eight with under 10 minutes left before Free's jumper ignited a 9-2 UCO scoring run that saw Brenner make two free throws, Markus drain a 3-point field goal and Kasey Tweed sink a pair of free throws to regain the advantage, 28-27 at the 5:14 mark. However, St. Mary's rallied off a scorching 11-0 scoring run to lead by double-digits, 38-28 with 1:47 remaining.
The deficit did not deter the Bronchos as they ended the half on a torrid 9-2 scoring streak that saw Brenner, Tweed and Taylor Allen all contribute points as the opening period ended with UCO trailing by three, 40-37 despite shooting a tepid 32 percent (10-of-31) and committing 12 turnovers.
Scoring was at a premium at the onset of the final period as the two teams combined to score 11 points through the first 8:30 of the half with the score tied at 45 after Brenner converted two free throws. UCO regained the lead after Brenner nailed a 3-pointer and Hester contributed three points on a free throw and layup to hold a 51-47 advantage with 8:41 showing on the clock.
St. Mary's trimmed the lead to one-point before a Markus layup followed by a pair of Pillow free throw conversions pushed the Broncho advantage to 55-52 at 5:12 but the Rattlers later tied the contest at 56-56 after a 4-1 scoring advantage and then took a three-point lead after Juanita Merchant sank a 3-point field goal from the corner with 27 seconds remaining on the clock.
Down 59-56, Free converted a layup at the 12 second mark to trim the lead to one before UCO sent Natalie Gamez to the free throw line, where she converted both opportunities to lead once again by three points with seven seconds showing.
With one chance to tie the contest on a last second effort, Hester's improbable shot found its mark to knot the contest at 61-61, shocking the opposition and the crowd while forcing the game into overtime.
Free's jumper with 3:55 remaining in the extra period allowed the Bronchos to take a one-point lead, 65-64 before Merchant struck again, knocking down another 3-pointer to put UCO in a four-point deficit with two minutes left in overtime.
Markus earned a pair of free throws, made them both and stole the inbounds pass and converted an uncontested layup to tie the contest at the 1:44 mark before Merchant again buried a 3-pointer to put the Rattlers up by three.
On the next UCO possession, Pillow answered with a 3-pointer of her own to tie the score and after a St. Mary's miss, Tweed made a driving layup to lead 73-71. St. Mary's tied the game with a jumper with 18 seconds remaining on the clock before the Bronchos took the last shot of the period, Free's game-winner from the baseline.
Despite making some clutch 3-point field goals, UCO was just 4-of-18 (22.2 percent) for the game while converting 80.6 percent (25-of-31) of its free throw opportunities.
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