Spartans’ 4th-quarter rally runs out of time
Graham Couch
COLUMBIA, S.C. – Michigan State’s women’s basketball team just needed another quarter. Another possession even. Eventually, the Spartans looked like they would have found a way to win this uphill fight against 8seed North Carolina in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
They dug too deep a hole. Took too long to get the game close enough for the Tar Heels to feel the heat. Got in too much foul trouble. Gave up too many rebounds. And never were able to string enough possessions together offensively to gain any real momentum. And so they’re headed home after a 59-56 defeat Thursday at South Carolina’s Colonial Life Arena.
They nearly pulled it off, though, despite trailing by 16 points in the first quarter and 15 in the fourth — with Theryn Hallock’s corner 3-pointer with 5.4 seconds left cutting the deficit to 57-56.
“That’s us. We are tough,” senior Moira Joiner said after her final game at MSU. “We are not going to give up.’’
A quick foul looked like it would give the Spartans the ball back with no worse than a chance to tie in the final seconds. But after Deja Kelly missed the second of two free throws, North Carolina grabbed its 17th offensive rebound. And after Kelly was fouled again and missed another, the Tar Heels grabbed the rebound again and ran out the clock. On the day, the Tar Heels out-rebounded MSU 45-27, including 18-6 on the offensive end.
MSU got back into the game by outscoring North Carolina 21-7 over a six-minute stretch in the fourth quarter. But things didn’t get really tight until the final minute, when Dee Dee Hagemann was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three free throws to cut the Tar Heels’ lead to 54-49 with 48 seconds left.
Hagemann then came up with a steal and got the ball back from Moira Joiner for a layup to make it 54-51 with 38 seconds to play.
After Kelly drew a foul and made one of two free throws, Tory Ozment countered with a layup on an inbounds play on the other end.
Two free throws by North Carolina’s Lexi Donarski put the Tar Heel’s ahead 57-53 with 12.6 seconds remaining, before Hallock buried that corner 3.
“Honestly, when Dee Dee got fouled on the 3 and made those free throws, it kind of felt like the momentum switch to our side,” Ozment said, after also playing her last game at MSU. “But when Theryn hit that 3, that was huge. I kind of thought in the back of my mind, ‘We’re going win this game.’ I think we all did in that huddle.”
Hallock and Julia Ayrault led the Spartans with 14 points apiece.
MSU, the 8 seed in the Albany Region of the NCAA tournament, finishes Robyn Fralick’s first season 22-9.
“She came in and changed the program,” said Hallock, a sophomore. “And I can’t wait to see what I can do in the next couple years with her as a coach and for the future and the culture of this program.”