The Ashbrook Classic came to an end with the women’s basketball team record 1-1. On Nov. 10, they lost to Colorado Mesa 64-71. On Nov. 11 they were able to beat Oklahoma Christian 72-68 with an amazing comeback.
At the 8:34 mark of the first quarter, Whitney Taylor, forward and education senior, made a three-point shot to start off the game. Oklahoma Christian followed up making the score 3-3. The score at the 3:00 mark was 9-13. With 1:16 left to the first quarter, Mica Schnieder, guard and mass communications sophomore, made a three-point shot boosting the score 13-22. Twenty-five seconds left and Hannah Reynolds, center and health science freshman, made a shot to bring MSU five points behind OCU.
“I feel a lot better today than last night. We worked together as a team and executed a lot better,” Reynolds said.
In the second quarter at the 9:04 mark, Micheline Mercelita, forward and kinesiology senior, made two foul shots. The quarter went on slower than the first for the women’s basketball team. Reynolds made a shot at the 7:10 mark bringing the score to 19-25. Jasmine Richardson, guard and exercise physiology senior, and Liz Cathcart, forward and marketing sophomore, together made two foul shots during the second quarter. The score going in to half time was 29-31.
“Today I felt like we didn’t do a good job early on of stopping them in transition and we played to their tempo,” Noel Johnson, head coach, said.
The second half as a whole saw a huge change in the women’s drive. The third quarter ended with a score of 47-54. At the 9:49 mark, just ten seconds into the quarter, Reynolds made a basket. Later in that minute she then made two foul shots bringing the score to 33-36. Halfway through the quarter, Mercelita rebounded the ball and brought it right back up for a basket. This brought the score to 37-42, just before Taylor made a three-point basket at the 4:58 mark. With just over a minute left, Chelcie Kizart, guard and pre-physical therapy junior, made both of her foul shots making the score 47-50.
“At the second half, we did a better job at controlling tempo and making them run offense on the side of the floor they didn’t want to,” Johnson said.
The 9:20 mark of the fourth quarter saw a three-point basket by Kristin Rydell, guard and nursing senior. The score halfway through the quarter was 60-61. At the 4:53 mark Kizart made two foul shots bringing the women’s basketball team above Oklahoma Christian. At the 4:21 mark Kizart then made a basket and brought the score to 64-63. At the 2:00 mark the score was 67-65. With two more foul shots and a basket at the 1:12 mark by Reynolds, the women won 71-65.
“Our coaches gave us a lot of things to change at half time. So we came out with good momentum wanting to upset this team,” Taylor said. “We wanted to redeem ourselves from yesterdays game, so we came out a lot more aggressive in the second half.”
At the end of the game, two players were awarded for being all-tournament players. Hannah Reynolds was named the all-tournament player on the women’s basketball player.
“It is a big accomplishment for just being a freshman,” Reynolds said.
The women’s basketball team will return to D. L. Ligon Coliseum on Nov. 15 against Texas Wesleyan at 6 p.m.
