LAS VEGAS — A last-second three-point heave from Cherita Daugherty sent the entirety of Orleans Arena into pandemonium Wednesday night as the Southern Utah University women’s basketball team pushed past New Mexico State 62-61 and into the Western Athletic Conference tournament semifinals.
Tomekia Whitman had a scorching second half and led the No. 2 seeded Thunderbirds offensively with 18 points on 3-of-7 shooting from downtown, six rebounds, and a block. Daylani Ballena was a spark the entire night, finishing with 14 points on a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line and two assists.
Daugherty scored her 1,000th career point as a Thunderbird, finishing with 14 points, six assists and two rebounds.
Also of note, SUU outscored the Aggies 21-6 during the third quarter, rallying to within one point after being down 30-14 at halftime. SUU also had a stellar night from the free throw line, shooting 92.5 percent compared to 68 percent by New Mexico State.
First Half
Southern Utah started the game with a smooth pick-and-roll layup on a dime from Ballena to Lizzy Williamson and a Ballena top-of-the-key three-pointer. The Aggies would get things rolling first, jumping out on an 11-0 run to take a 14-5 lead at the 2:57 mark of the opening quarter.
The Thunderbirds would find an answer as Daugherty sliced to the rim with force and earned two free throws, and Samantha Johnston drained a triple to cut the deficit to 16-10 with 35 seconds in the quarter. NMSU closed out the quarter strong with a turnaround jumper and a pair of made free throws, giving them the 20-10 lead at the end of the first.
Both teams started to struggle offensively in the second quarter as the game saw a four-minute scoring drought. The Thunderbirds would find life as Whitman muscled in a tough post-up layup, and Williamson hit a mid-range jumper to bring the score to 24-14, heading into the media timeout with 4:57 on the clock. New Mexico would respond on a 6-0 run to give them a 30-14 heading into halftime.
Second Half
SUU put its foot on the gas to start the half, bolting out onto a 6-0 run as Whitman and Ballena sunk pull-up jumpers and Daugherty made a second-chance layup to trim the score to 30-20 with 5:01 left in the quarter.
After New Mexico State halted the run with a layup, the Thunderbirds exploded out onto a dominant 15-2 run, courtesy of three straight triples from Whitman and a clutch pickpocketing steal, and a fast-break layup from Ballena to put Southern Utah within one 36-35 at the end of the third.
Southern Utah began the fourth quarter with fire as they spurted out onto an 8-2 sprint off three buckets from Ballena and a second-chance layup from Whitman to give them the lead back, 43-38, with 8:30 remaining in the fourth.
NMSU put a stop to this surge and rattled off a run of their own, hitting two mid-range jumpers and two sets of free throws to take the lead back, 45-43, with 6:52 left on the clock.
Following a Williamson bucket on the next possession that tied things back up, both teams began to trade buckets back and forth until the Thunderbirds snatched the lead back with crucial layups from Jensen and Ballena to retake the lead, 52-49.
As the clock ticked under five minutes to play, the Aggies started to take back the momentum and hit a three-pointer, a layup, and split a pair of free throws to grab the 55-52 advantage with 2:29 left in the quarter.
After each side failed to convert on their next four possessions, Daugherty would go to the hole and hit a tough layup in traffic to bring the New Mexico State’s lead back to one, 55-54, at the 35-second mark.
The Aggies would go to the free throw line on the following sequence and stretch their lead to 57-54 with 26 seconds left. Southern Utah’s three-point attempt would rattle in and out on their next possession, forcing them to foul, and send NMSU to the free-throw line, where push their lead back to 59-54 with 13 seconds remaining.
Coming out of an SUU timeout, Johnson would find her way to the free-throw line, where she drilled both shots to cut the deficit, 59-56, with eight seconds on the clock. Southern Utah would immediately foul and allow New Mexico to extend their lead back to 61-56.
With under five seconds remaining, Southern Utah came crashing down the court and fed inside to Megan Jensen, who splashed an and-one layup to bring SUU within two points, 61-59, with five seconds left in the game.
The Thunderbirds fouled once more, sending NMSU to the line where they failed on both attempts, and a scrambling rebound gave SUU one last chance with just three seconds left.
Out of the timeout, Daugherty would come blistering around a screen and throw up a high-contested one-handed circus shot that hit all net as time expired to send the Thunderbirds into the WAC semifinals.
Q4 | SHE CALLED GAME 🚨🚨 @CheritaNicole#TBirdNation pic.twitter.com/xud5D9kgGS
— SUU Women’s Basketball (@SUUWBasketball) March 9, 2023
Southern Utah will next face the Grand Canyon Antelopes in the WAC semifinals on Friday at 2 p.m. PT in the Orleans Arena. Click here to see tournament brackets on the WAC conference’s website.
Written by Seth Whitehouse, SUU Athletic Communications intern.
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2023, all rights reserved.