NCAA Tournament: Women's Upset Bid Falls Just Short Against Oklahoma State

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Mackey Arena presented a warm, embracing environment for the FGCU women's basketball team, but the Midwestern support couldn't boost a stagnant Eagles offense late in the game, and the Blue and Green fell 61-60 in overtime to No. 5 Oklahoma State.

With 10 Florida Gulf Coast players from Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, and Wisconsin, Eagles fans dominated well over one section of Mackey Arena, with school president Wilson Bradshaw leading the charge in the front row.

As the contest got underway, FGCU struggled to keep a larger Cowgirls team off the glass and fell quickly into a 16-6 hole. The Eagles did a fantastic job getting to the basket but just couldn't convert.

“We missed wide-open layups that we usually wouldn’t miss. Today we were nervous going into the game and it came back to bite us," said senior Sarah Hansen.

But behind an electric Dirty Bird contingent, they stormed back and tore off a 19-8 run to end the 2nd half, leaving the score tied at the break. A huge factor was sophomore guard Stephanie Haas who tallied 12 of her 15 points in the first half.

The Eagles continued the run after the break and held a 10 point lead halfway through the 2nd half. At that point however, the offense became stagnant as the Cowgirls switched to a zone.

"We had a couple shot clock violations but you have to give Oklahoma State credit for taking us out of that and forcing tough shots at the end," Haas said.

The Eagles formed a five out attack which relied heavily on the outside shot but FGCU wasn't converting; they failed to score once in a six minute period and only a Kaniesha Atwater layup with 35 seconds left forced overtime.

"We we're getting complacent and weren't attacking or looking to shoot. We passed up a couple shots in the end," Hansen said. "We tried not to lose as opposed to try to win."

Absent from the court was first half spark Stephanie Haas, who recorded just seven minutes after the break.

"We were going with our most defensive lineup. Atwater, I didn't want to take her off No. 3 because she was doing such a great job," said head coach Karl Smesko.

Now 0-2 in NCAA Tournament appearances, Florida Gulf Coast ended the season 26-8 and will be losing senior and points record holder Sarah Hansen. They bring in three star guard Tayler Goodall out of Columbus, Ind., and redshirt freshman Taylor Gradinjan will return following an ACL injury.