Seniors lead Shocker women’s basketball team to dramatic OT win in final home game
After a season where it felt like not many bounces went the way of the Wichita State women’s basketball team, almost all of them did on senior night.
The Shockers needed every last one of them to prevail in a dramatic overtime battle with Tulane for an 84-83 victory at Koch Arena on Wednesday. WSU (14-15, 5-11 AAC) snapped a three-game losing streak, while putting an end to the nine-game winning streak of Tulane (20-8, 11-5 AAC) in American Athletic Conference play.
Tulane had wide-open layups for the win at the end of regulation and overtime, but failed to convert either. For one night, at least, WSU was finally on the right end of the breaks and the Shockers were able to celebrate widely on the court with their four seniors — Carla Bremaud, Seraphine Bastin, Mariah McCully and Asia Strong.
“It felt like we got a couple of luck bounces that went our way,” WSU coach Keitha Adams told The Roundhouse.
Bremaud and Bastin slid across the court in celebration, then draped themselves in their native flags (Bremaud is from France, while Bastin hails from Belgium). Overhead, highlights played from the careers of Bremaud, Bastin, McCully and Strong, as their teammates wrapped them in hugs, laughed and cried with them in their final home game.
“I was praying the whole game,” Strong told The Roundhouse. “I was singing it in my head. ‘I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win.’”
That belief was put to the test at the end of regulation with the game tied at 74 with 10.4 seconds left and WSU inbounding the ball on the sideline in front of its bench. The pass sailed high, bounced off the backboard and immediately created a fastbreak for Tulane headed the other direction.
Tulane’s leading scorer Dynah Jones (game-high 24 points) was ahead of the pack, but fumbled the pass and was whistled for a double dribble with six seconds remaining to negate Tulane’s golden opportunity.
In overtime, Strong delivered in the clutch when she was fouled with 13.7 seconds left and headed to the foul line with the Shockers trailing by one. Strong calmly sank both free throws to put WSU ahead 84-83, but then she had to hold her breathe one more time for another near-disaster.
Tulane missed its initial attempt, a step-back three-pointer, but Arsula Clark (18 points) rebounded the miss at the free throw line and had a wide-open layup with no contest that rimmed out as time expired to give WSU the emotional victory on senior day.
It was fitting that the Shockers were powered in the upset by their four seniors, as Strong finished with a team-high 22 points and six rebounds, McCully scored 19 points with 10 assists, five rebounds and two steals, Bremaud added 14 points on four three-pointers and two steals and Bastin chipped in six pionts, four rebounds and three assists.
“I will never forget this night,” Bremaud tweeted afterward. “The win was just crazy and then senior ceremony. I have no words.”
For the second straight year, WSU will take on Tulsa in the play-in round at the AAC tournament in Fort Worth. The ninth-seeded Shockers will play the eighth-seeded Golden Hurricane next Monday at 1 p.m. at Dickies Arena with the game being streamed on ESPN+. The winner will advance to face regular-season champion UCF in the quarterfinals.
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