COWGIRLS TAKE "SURVIVE AND ADVANCE" LITERALLY

At least OSU's next game will be at a normal time.

I initially wondered if the ridiculously early start time of 10am Central would hurt Coach Littell's group. It sure didn't bother Liz Donohoe, as she scored 8 of OSU's first 11 points. Brittany Martin's jumper gave them a 22-12 lead with 6:25 left in the first half.

Over the next 15:56, FGCU would outscore the Cowgirls 38-18, taking a 10 point lead with 10:29 remaining. The Eagles were nailing 3's and making layups almost at will. Coach Littell would comment after the game, "We knew going in that it was a very tough guard for us in the fact that they spread you out, drive and then shoot so many 3s."

Then came the most important coaching decision of the season.

Coach Littell had the Cowgirls switch to zone on defense. Sounds like just the opposite of what you would want to do against a team that likes to shoot the 3.

After scoring 22 points in the first 9:31 of the second half, FGCU would score only 7 points the rest of the regulation. Ironically, on the layup that tied the game, the Cowgirls were in man-to-man.

OSU had a shot to win as Freshman Ro Johnson, who led the Cowgirls with 11 points, missed a short fadeaway as time was winding down. She hit almost the exact same shot a couple of minutes earlier, and Coach Littell called the play to get her the ball for the last shot. She's going to be another special Cowgirl PG.

The overtime was brutal offensively for both teams, as more fouls were committed (8) than points scored (7). The last minute was a bizarre display, as OSU continued to foul even though they had the lead, then called their last timeout with 30 seconds remaining and FGCU with possession. The Eagles would miss a wide open look for 3, then came the game that wouldn't end.

FGCU would commit a couple of fouls to force FT's. Interestingly enough, the officials had pretty much swallowed their whistles up to that point as the last foul called finally put the Cowgirls in the bonus. It was to no avail, as Donohoe missed the front end of the 1&1 with 3 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Martin would steal the inbounds pass and was immediately fouled with 1 second remaining. Like Donohoe, she would miss the front end and another Eagles timeout with 0.8 remaining would give them one last shot. Martin again stole the length of the court pass to end it.

Despite what seemed like a bunch of 3's and layups by FGCU, both teams shot poorly. Tiffany Bias was 0-8 before hitting the layup in OT to give OSU the lead for good. The teams shot 35% for the game (46-130)...25% from 3 (13-51)...and 16-30 from the line. Horrible.

The good news for the Cowgirls is that they moved on despite the terrible offensive production from their key players. LaShawn Jones and Kendra Suttles were a combined 9-10 from the floor, and it was shocking that OSU didn't force the ball inside more than they did. Take their shooting out of the equation, and the rest of the Cowgirls shot 27%. The Big 3 (Bias, Martin, Donohoe) were 8-32. As mentioned above, Liz put up 8 points in the first 6 minutes, but would only register one successful FTA the rest of the game. While Johnson led the way with 11-8-4, she did so on 4-15 shooting (3-8 from 3). Here's the box score...

Doesn't matter this time of year, a win is a win. They don't ask how.

Now it's on to #4 Purdue, who had no trouble dispatching #13 Akron, 84-55. You can see the full women's NCAA bracket here. Gametime is a much more reasonable 9pm Eastern Monday evening, with the game carried regionally on ESPN2. If you aren't in the coverage area, you can watch online at www.ESPN3.com or the WatchESPN app on your mobile device.

Here are the main contributors for the Boilermakers:

GO POKETTES!!!