“There are really no words to describe how proud I am of this team,” Lady Buc coach Karen Kemp said. “They came out and played very hard. My biggest fear going into this game was that we would just be in awe of everything because we were in our first NCAA Tournament. We played really focused. We knew Oklahoma State was a good basketball team. I felt like we came out and gave it everything we had and played a good basketball game.”
The Lady Bucs and Cowgirls traded shots to open the contest as the Lady Bucs took an early 14-11 lead thanks to two Michelle DeVault 3-pointers. However, the Cowgirls went on a 20-7 run to take a 29-17 lead with 7:54 remaining in the half. DeVault hit another 3-pointer to close the gap to 31-22, but the Lady Bucs were unable to gain anymore on Oklahoma State. The Cowgirls took a 41-29 lead at the break.
The Lady Bucs, however, did not give up in the second half. ETSU responded to an Oklahoma State 3-pointer with a 6-0 run to open up the second half. However, the Cowgirls went on a 9-0 run to push their lead to 52-35. Siarre Evans and DeVault 3-pointers gave the Lady Bucs momentum as ETSU pulled within seven points with less than nine minutes remaining. However, the clock worked against the Lady Bucs as they could not get closer to the Cowgirls.
“Credit East Tennessee State, they outcoached and outplayed us tonight,” Oklahoma State coach Kurt Budke. “I tried to stress that midmajors such as East Tennessee are very dangerous. ETSU believe in themselves and they believe they can play with anybody. They came out playing very relaxed.”
The Lady Bucs were led by DeVault’s 22 points as she tied a career-high six 3-pointers. Latisha Belcher scored 14 points, while Evans scored 12 points. TaRonda Wiles added 10 points for the Lady Bucs. Oklahoma State was led by All-American Andrea Riley’s 26 points and Maria Cordero added 23 points. The Cowgirls and Lady Bucs were nearly even in rebounding as the Cowgirls won the battle in the paint 46-45. The Lady Bucs also had 17 assists.
The Lady Bucs finished the season by winning 15 of its last 17 games. The team tied a Lady Buc record of 21 victories and captured the first NCAA berth in the program history.
