March Madness: Miami completes a 17-point comeback where Oklahoma State fouled
no. 9 – Miami completed one of the biggest comebacks in NCAA Women’s Tournament history with a 62-61 win over No. 8 Oklahoma State in the Greenville District 2 on Saturday as the Cowgirls missed out on winning the game.
Oklahoma State trailed by five points with less than a minute remaining and had a five-second chance to win after a seemingly quick five-second call against Miami as the Hurricanes were trying to field the ball. Oklahoma State’s Naomi Nattas walked to the fairway as time expired but her shot through the glass bounced off the rim.
Miami edged Oklahoma State by 13 points in the third quarter after trailing 37-20 at halftime. The Hurricanes put up 20 points in the third quarter and led Oklahoma State to seven points to cut the lead to 44-40 before the start of the fourth quarter. Then Miami took the lead with just under nine minutes remaining on Destiny Hardin’s jumper and was never far behind the rest of the way.
Miami trailed by 17 points, which it beat for the fifth-largest comeback in NCAA Women’s Tournament history. Oklahoma State dominated the first half but got worse in the second half. The Cowgirls shot less than 40% from the field and only 14 of 35 were from inside the 3-point line.
However, they still had a chance to win the game after Ana Grete Asi hit a layup 3 with five seconds left to cut Miami’s lead to one. Miami had the ball in the middle of the field after time expired and didn’t get much leeway with the five-second call. The referee on the sideline blew his whistle to indicate that the ball was ready for play before the ball was in Miami’s hands for a tackle.
The last two minutes of the match were also grueling. Administrators have gone to the sidelines to redo reviews no fewer than five times.
Haley Cavender led the Miami team with 16 points and her free throw with eight seconds left in the game, so Miami led by four points in the end, to become the winning margin. The Hurricanes will play Indiana on Monday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament while OSU finishes the season at 21-12.
