Box Score (PDF) | Photo Gallery | Replay | Highlights
Press Conference: McNeese and A&M-CC
KATY, Texas – Allison Baggett will never be confused as one of the nation's premier shot blockers, yet the heart and soul of McNeese State women's basketball delivered on perhaps the biggest rejection of her well-decorated career.
Baggett's block of Brittany Mbamalu's potential game-tying 3-pointer helped seal the Cowgirls' hard-fought 78-73 win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in Thursday's opening round game at the Merrell Center, propelling the No. 7 seed to Friday's quarterfinal against No. 3 seed Central Arkansas at 1:30 p.m., CT.
“Honestly, I got burned pretty bad on the screens,” said Baggett, who finished with a game-high 27 points for the Cowgirls (18-12). “I took off because I knew she was about to shoot it, so I was like, 'well, let me go for it,' and luckily I got a tip on it.”
The block eventually led to Baggett shooting the game-clinching free throws for McNeese, which rallied from a 57-49 deficit at the 14:25 mark of the second half.
Despite being outrebounded by a 41-26 margin, the Cowgirls were able to hit the glass at the game's most critical moments, including a 7:18 stretch in the second half in which McNeese limited Corpus Christi (18-12) to just one field goal.
Several of those key boards found their way in the direction of center NeTanya Jones, who scored 10 points and grabbed six of her nine rebounds after intermission.
“My team believed in me,” Jones said. “The last two games, I haven't been myself, and my team still believed in me. I wasn't ready to go home yet.”
The Islanders trailed 74-73 after Jasmine Shaw (17 points) connected on a jumper with 2:44 left, yet were not able to get the go-ahead score, ending a season in which coach Royce Chadwick led the program to a 14-game turnaround, one of the biggest in the nation.
McNeese forced 16 turnovers, which led to 20 points for the Cowgirls.
“We turned it over way too many times,” Chadwick said. “I thought that was the difference in the game.”
Although the Cowgirls once held a nine-point lead, the pace of the first half was such that the 19-10 margin would not last long, as the Islanders were able to race back into the contest, drawing within three points several times before McNeese took a 41-33 advantage with 3:25 left. Corpus Christi scored the last six points of the half, with Brandi Huff's jumper topping off the late spurt that drew the Islanders within 41-39 at intermission.
Both teams shot well in the opening 20 minutes, as McNeese shot 50 percent from the field, while Corpus Christi was able to shoot at a 57.1 percent clip, yet the Cowgirls were able to limit the Islanders to just 38 percent shooting in the second half.
“They're trying to win three out of the last four tournaments,” Chadwick said of McNeese. “They have a very good basketball team that has been there, done that. We're trying to get to that point.”
Postgame Quotes…
McNeese State Coach Brooks Donald Williams
“First of all, hats off to A&M-Corpus Christi, Royce Chadwick and his staff and team. They did a tremendous job all year. We have a lot of respect for them and their players. Jasmine Shaw is an incredible young lady and a tough kid to guard. This was really a tough challenge for us. We are really proud of our girls and proud of our fight. This was one of the few games this year that we had a deficit in the second half and really fought back and overcame some struggles defensively. To see that toughness at tournament time is so important and I am really proud of them.”
On playing Central Arkansas in the next round:
“We are looking forward to having a rematch with them. They really challenged us at our place. So we are certainly going to study that and we ready to go tomorrow. It is very fitting for us to be competing against Central Arkansas with our history.”
McNeese State center NeTanya Jones
On her emotions going into this game:
“It was crazy but it was very intense. I believed in my team and my team believed in me. The last few games I haven’t been myself and I wasn’t playing like myself. My team still believed in me and they still fought for me and my coaches still believed in me. I wasn’t ready to go home yet ... nobody was ready to go home and so we are here for another game.”
McNeese State guard Allison Baggett
On first time being in a starring role in the tournament:
“It’s great, but we all played as one. We did so well tonight doing that. We played together, we fought together, we came back together and that is why we won.”
On her deflection in the closing seconds of the game:
“Honestly, I got burned pretty bad on the screen. I saw her go out there so I took off. I knew she was about to shoot it so I just went for it and luckily I got a tip on it.”
McNeese State guard Jayln Johnson
On facing Central Arkansas in the next round:
“We are just basically ready to redeem ourselves. They played hard when we played them the first time. We do have do to better this game.”
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Coach Royce Chadwick
“Congratulations to McNeese. I thought they played very well today. It was a great game for the fans; a lot of offensive basketball. They got the ball to their shooters and they did a really good job of converting. They deserved the win. With that said, we turned it over way too many times. Some of our turnovers led to easy field goals for them and I thought that was really the difference in the game. I couldn’t be any prouder of our senior class from where they took us from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.”
On the biggest difference today versus two previous matchups:
“I think there’s a lot more energy and excitement in the conference tournament. We were very excited to be here. Very few of our players had been in a setting like this. It took us four or five minutes to settle down. Once we did, I thought we did a good job offensively. Defensively, we never really got into a good flow. I thought they rattled us a bit early and we turned the ball over.”
On winning 12 more games than last season:
“It doesn’t feel very good right now but hopefully as we go through the summer and we look back, we did a lot of things as a team. I don’t think that you could say one girl made all the plays. We had a lot of really good seniors who came in and made a huge difference for our team. I think it took us a long time because we had 10 new players. One of the hardest things that a player has to do is accept their role on a team and our seniors accepted their role and did a very good for us.”
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi guard Alissa Campanero
On facing tighter defense in the matchup:
“It’s the conference tournament so they’re not going to give us the same thing they did last time. We’ve got to make plays; it’s March.”
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi guard Jasmine Shaw
On the difficulty of covering McNeese State guard Allison Baggett:
“It was difficult chasing her off the screens. I was trying to force her to the baseline to my help but sometimes I couldn’t get her. She made some tough shots.”