Morningside survives major scare, 87-86
By Barry Poe Journal sports writer | Posted: Sunday, March 16, 2008
Morningside players celebrate the victory over Minot State during NAIA basketball action at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City Saturday. (Staff photo by Jim Lee)
That sound you hear is the collective group of Morningside College women's basketball fans, coaches and players finally exhaling after one of the wildest finishes in the history of the NAIA Division II national tournament.
Second-ranked Morningside came away an 87-86 winner over unranked Minot State in the third of four quarterfinal games Saturday night at the Tyson Events Center, but the outcome wasn't decided until the officials watched a replay of the final frantic 1.8 seconds.
And oh, what a 1.8 seconds those were.
Trailing by a point, Minot State got the ball with 15.6 seconds remaining and missed three shots that would have given the Beavers the lead. On the third miss, Morningside's Leslie Foral was called for traveling after grabbing the rebound with 1.8 seconds left.
After a Morningside time out, Minot State got the ball in the hands of 6-foot-1 junior Lashay Bagsby, who had been brilliant the entire game. Bagsby got off a shot, but it was partially deflected and failed to draw iron.
Minot's Brittni Walker grabbed the rebound and threw up an off balance shot that went in, but the question was whether it went through the net before the buzzer sounded. One official signalled the basket was good, touching off a wild Minot State celebration.
Morningside Coach Jamie Sale, though, raced across the court in protest, demanding that the official take a look at a courtside replay monitor. He did and after seeing the replay, waved off the basket and Morningside escaped with the victory.
"First of all I want to thank whoever invented the video camera," said Sale, whose team became the second Great Plains Athletic Conference squad to reach the Final Four. "I thought looking at it, it was fairly obvious that it was late and I hoped that they would get it on tape and they would get it right.
"If they would have seen that it was on time we would have lived with that, too. But I'm glad they were able to see it and get it right.
"If that would have been a regular season game we would have just lost, but I'm glad at this tournament they had that because it would have been sad to lose the game when technically we won.
"I have to give Minot State credit. We had them down and it looked like we could put them away and they fought back after a double-overtime game yesterday. I felt bad for them, too, because they probably deserved to win as much as we did."
Morningside led 54-38 with 17:49 left in the game, but the Beavers, who survived a double-overtime thriller with William Jewell on Thursday, stormed all the way back to force the improbable finish.
A 7-0 run cut the deficit to 61-56 at the 10:49 mark, but Morningside fought off the surge and regained an 80-71 lead on a basket by Dani Gass with 3:43 remaining.
Gass, Morningside's returning All-American who finished with 22 points, scored the Mustangs' last seven points of the game.
After her bucket at the 3:43 mark, Minot State reeled off eight unanswered points, pulling within 80-79 on a conventional three-point play by Bagsby with 2:34 remaining.
Gass then converted two free throws after being fouled on a drive to the hoop, but Minot's Whitney Loftesnes nailed a three-pointer from the head of the key, tying the game at 82-82.
Morningside then turned the ball over and Minot State took its first lead of the game on a 15-footer by Kendra Meyer with 1:09 left. The Mustangs answered when Gass took a feed from Autumn Bartel and scored underneath with 50.2 ticks showing on the clock.
Minot State missed a shot on its next possession, but the possession arrow pointed in its direction on a jump ball. Then, with 37 seconds left, the ball wound up in the hands of Meyer after being tipped by Morningside's Hall and she scored and was fouled, but missed the free throw.
Gass made two more free throws with 15.6 seconds left, setting the stage for the memorable conclusion.
"That is so remarkable," said Gass. "We stuck together. Jamie called the last play up and it worked and we just played defense. Their post pretty much controlled the whole game and we were pretty much playing not to lose and not playing hard.
"But, thank God we finally stuck together and got the win. I really didn't think it was good because there was only one second left when we got the block, but thank God there was video there or we would have been in trouble."
Gass, a 5-10 junior from East High, had 10 rebounds and three assists to go along with her team-high 22 points. Sophomore Hall added 18 points, nailing three-pointers on her first three shots of the game, while Bartel tacked on 17 and sophomore Brittany Williamson 12 points.
"We were clicking on all cylinders at the beginning of the game and then the last 10 minutes just stopped and played more not to lose than to win," said Hall, who had four of Morningside's 13 three-point goals. "You can never go out there and play not to lose. You have to go out there and do what you do and do what you normally do and have fun, then everything will come to you.
"There are a lot of things going through your mind when you think you probably lost the game. But if it wouldn't have been for Hastings' video tape we would never have had a chance to come back and be playing on Monday."
Hastings College provides a video feed for NAIA productions, which is normal procedure, according to NAIA officials. The rule book states that NAIA referees can consult a replay only to determine the outcome of a game, which was the case on Saturday night.
"I felt fairly confident that the kids were going make plays, they had done it all game long," said Minot State Coach Sheila Green Gerding. "They were relaxed, they didn't seem tense, they didn't seem tight. Our posts were very good down the stretch, we had a good look at the end and that's all you can ask for.
"I thought we left everything we possibly could on the court tonight. For about a minute in my life I thought we were moving on. It was a huge up and then a huge letdown , but that's life, it's full of disappointments and you have to be able to handle that, too.
"We have absolutely nothing to hang our heads about. Obviously we're all heartbroken and wish we were moving on. But two weeks ago half of them were sitting in Mexico or Arizona or back home for spring break, so it's a little different feeling in the lockerroom than when we lost in the first round of the (Dakota Athletic Conference) playoffs."
Bagsby was 12 of 17 from the field and 6 of 10 from the free throw line for 30 points while also grabbing eight rebounds. Walker, a 6-foot junior, chipped in 18 points and 10 rebounds while Meyer, the team's leading scorer with an 18.9 average, finished with 15 points.
Minot commanded the boards with a 44-31 rebounding advantage.
Minot State, one of three teams from the DAC in the field of 32, was actually awarded the last spot in the field as an at-large selection. The Beavers, a No. 7 seed, surprised second-seeded Shawnee State in the first round, then outlasted William Jewell in two overtimes.
Minot State finished with a 21-11 overall record.
Morningside, now 33-3, will play GPAC rival Northwestern, ranked third, in a semifinal on Monday at 8 p.m. The first semifinal at 6 o'clock pits top-ranked College of the Ozarks and fourth-ranked Hastings.
Second-ranked Morningside came away an 87-86 winner over unranked Minot State in the third of four quarterfinal games Saturday night at the Tyson Events Center, but the outcome wasn't decided until the officials watched a replay of the final frantic 1.8 seconds.
And oh, what a 1.8 seconds those were.
Trailing by a point, Minot State got the ball with 15.6 seconds remaining and missed three shots that would have given the Beavers the lead. On the third miss, Morningside's Leslie Foral was called for traveling after grabbing the rebound with 1.8 seconds left.
After a Morningside time out, Minot State got the ball in the hands of 6-foot-1 junior Lashay Bagsby, who had been brilliant the entire game. Bagsby got off a shot, but it was partially deflected and failed to draw iron.
Minot's Brittni Walker grabbed the rebound and threw up an off balance shot that went in, but the question was whether it went through the net before the buzzer sounded. One official signalled the basket was good, touching off a wild Minot State celebration.
Morningside Coach Jamie Sale, though, raced across the court in protest, demanding that the official take a look at a courtside replay monitor. He did and after seeing the replay, waved off the basket and Morningside escaped with the victory.
"First of all I want to thank whoever invented the video camera," said Sale, whose team became the second Great Plains Athletic Conference squad to reach the Final Four. "I thought looking at it, it was fairly obvious that it was late and I hoped that they would get it on tape and they would get it right.
"If they would have seen that it was on time we would have lived with that, too. But I'm glad they were able to see it and get it right.
"If that would have been a regular season game we would have just lost, but I'm glad at this tournament they had that because it would have been sad to lose the game when technically we won.
"I have to give Minot State credit. We had them down and it looked like we could put them away and they fought back after a double-overtime game yesterday. I felt bad for them, too, because they probably deserved to win as much as we did."
Morningside led 54-38 with 17:49 left in the game, but the Beavers, who survived a double-overtime thriller with William Jewell on Thursday, stormed all the way back to force the improbable finish.
A 7-0 run cut the deficit to 61-56 at the 10:49 mark, but Morningside fought off the surge and regained an 80-71 lead on a basket by Dani Gass with 3:43 remaining.
Gass, Morningside's returning All-American who finished with 22 points, scored the Mustangs' last seven points of the game.
After her bucket at the 3:43 mark, Minot State reeled off eight unanswered points, pulling within 80-79 on a conventional three-point play by Bagsby with 2:34 remaining.
Gass then converted two free throws after being fouled on a drive to the hoop, but Minot's Whitney Loftesnes nailed a three-pointer from the head of the key, tying the game at 82-82.
Morningside then turned the ball over and Minot State took its first lead of the game on a 15-footer by Kendra Meyer with 1:09 left. The Mustangs answered when Gass took a feed from Autumn Bartel and scored underneath with 50.2 ticks showing on the clock.
Minot State missed a shot on its next possession, but the possession arrow pointed in its direction on a jump ball. Then, with 37 seconds left, the ball wound up in the hands of Meyer after being tipped by Morningside's Hall and she scored and was fouled, but missed the free throw.
Gass made two more free throws with 15.6 seconds left, setting the stage for the memorable conclusion.
"That is so remarkable," said Gass. "We stuck together. Jamie called the last play up and it worked and we just played defense. Their post pretty much controlled the whole game and we were pretty much playing not to lose and not playing hard.
"But, thank God we finally stuck together and got the win. I really didn't think it was good because there was only one second left when we got the block, but thank God there was video there or we would have been in trouble."
Gass, a 5-10 junior from East High, had 10 rebounds and three assists to go along with her team-high 22 points. Sophomore Hall added 18 points, nailing three-pointers on her first three shots of the game, while Bartel tacked on 17 and sophomore Brittany Williamson 12 points.
"We were clicking on all cylinders at the beginning of the game and then the last 10 minutes just stopped and played more not to lose than to win," said Hall, who had four of Morningside's 13 three-point goals. "You can never go out there and play not to lose. You have to go out there and do what you do and do what you normally do and have fun, then everything will come to you.
"There are a lot of things going through your mind when you think you probably lost the game. But if it wouldn't have been for Hastings' video tape we would never have had a chance to come back and be playing on Monday."
Hastings College provides a video feed for NAIA productions, which is normal procedure, according to NAIA officials. The rule book states that NAIA referees can consult a replay only to determine the outcome of a game, which was the case on Saturday night.
"I felt fairly confident that the kids were going make plays, they had done it all game long," said Minot State Coach Sheila Green Gerding. "They were relaxed, they didn't seem tense, they didn't seem tight. Our posts were very good down the stretch, we had a good look at the end and that's all you can ask for.
"I thought we left everything we possibly could on the court tonight. For about a minute in my life I thought we were moving on. It was a huge up and then a huge letdown , but that's life, it's full of disappointments and you have to be able to handle that, too.
"We have absolutely nothing to hang our heads about. Obviously we're all heartbroken and wish we were moving on. But two weeks ago half of them were sitting in Mexico or Arizona or back home for spring break, so it's a little different feeling in the lockerroom than when we lost in the first round of the (Dakota Athletic Conference) playoffs."
Bagsby was 12 of 17 from the field and 6 of 10 from the free throw line for 30 points while also grabbing eight rebounds. Walker, a 6-foot junior, chipped in 18 points and 10 rebounds while Meyer, the team's leading scorer with an 18.9 average, finished with 15 points.
Minot commanded the boards with a 44-31 rebounding advantage.
Minot State, one of three teams from the DAC in the field of 32, was actually awarded the last spot in the field as an at-large selection. The Beavers, a No. 7 seed, surprised second-seeded Shawnee State in the first round, then outlasted William Jewell in two overtimes.
Minot State finished with a 21-11 overall record.
Morningside, now 33-3, will play GPAC rival Northwestern, ranked third, in a semifinal on Monday at 8 p.m. The first semifinal at 6 o'clock pits top-ranked College of the Ozarks and fourth-ranked Hastings.
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the truth wrote on Mar 19, 2008 11:45 AM:
Twila Gantzer wrote on Mar 19, 2008 10:22 AM:
the truth wrote on Mar 16, 2008 10:11 PM:
All you can say is I spelled something wrong. He shook his head and he also made a shoulder and hand action like he didnt know what to do. Than its even on the tape some other guy told him. You know Minot WON!!
Go RAIDERS!!! "
Fan01 wrote on Mar 16, 2008 8:09 PM:
The truth wrote on Mar 16, 2008 3:11 AM:
IM from Sioux City and Im here to say Morningside lost. I was at the game and when the guy checked the tape he made a sign to another guy he didnt know, but than went out and said no basket. The big crowd for Morningside is why they made that decision. I was there and even Morningside knew it was good, otherwise they would of boo when they said Good basket. The couch had nothing to lose by challenging it and he got his way. But I wanted to know for sure so I bought a tape and Minot won the game. Those girls got the win and got cheated. Even if the basket wasnt good there should of been a foul called. By the way in the journal article it said it didnt clear the net, that is correct. All he has to do is leave the hands and it did that. Minot girls have nothing to be ashamed of, they beat them. But lets say they did lose by one point, so what they did a darn good job against a rank 1 team. Watch out Morningside hear comes Northwestern!!!!! "