The USI Women’s Basketball team hosted Campbell University Camels in a second round matchup in the Women’s National Invitation Tournament on Sunday night. There was much anticipation after a strong run in the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament that saw the Eagles fall short in the semifinals against Tennessee Tech.

Liberty Arena, home of the Screaming Eagles, was the place to be on Sunday as 1,705 fans filled in for potentially the last dance of the season.

For the game, USI made no changes to the lineup of Triniti Ralston, sophomore guard; Ali Saunders, junior guard; Vanessa Shafford, senior guard; Meredith Raley, graduate forward; and Madi Webb, graduate forward. The big three of Shafford, Raley and Webb would once again be on the big stage, fighting for one last chance at glory.

The first quarter of the game was a defensive affair for the most part. To open the game USI got an early basket by Meredith Raley to open the scoring, after Triniti Ralston stole the ball on the opening possession. However, Campbell answered with a three to take an early lead. After an Ali Saunders turnover, Campbell got multiple opportunities to score following two offensive rebounds, to no avail. Saunders eventually grabbed a crucial board. The following possession, Shafford hit a three to regain the lead.

A few minutes later, at the 7:26 mark, Webb scored a layup off of a Shafford assist to grow the lead to 4, but Campbell answered with yet another second chance bucket.

For the latter half of the first quarter, both USI and Campbell would struggle to put the ball into the basket, as both teams shot below 40% from the field and USI went 1/7 from downtown.

Things went from bad to worse, when Trinti Ralston left the game with an injury and did not return for the remainder of the game.

Chloe Gannon, sophomore forward/center was able to close out the first with a closing layup off of a Webb assist, USI leading 15-14.

The second quarter was similar to the first, as neither team would score for almost 90 seconds. However, Ali Saunders opened the scoring in the second quarter with two free throws and a three pointer in back to back possession. The three pointer was made possible by Lexie Green, graduate guard, who entered the game early in the second quarter, after she stole the ball and found Saunders for the bucket.

For another 90 seconds, both teams missed opportunities until Campbell scored on a layup with 4:33 left to go in the first half. It was not until 2:54 that another basket would go in, again for Campbell as they cut USI’s deficit to 23-22.

USI struck back soon as Meredith Raley drew a foul with 2:40 to go and hit both free throws. 40 seconds later, she hit a three pointer off a Saunders assist, but Campbell countered with a three of their own. Neither team would score for the rest of the quarter, but USI still led 28-25 going into halftime.

Going into halftime, the stats showed an ugly defensive affair. Neither team shot better than 31% from the field. USI had seven turnovers and gave up 10 second chance buckets. Adjustments had to be made at halftime in order for USI to have a chance at winning, despite leading.

Meredith Raley opened up scoring in the third quarter with a layup after Shafford got an offensive rebound. However, Campbell was up to the challenge out of the break as they hit a three pointer to bring the lead back to a one possession game. For the next few minutes, neither team would score a field goal, as only one point was scored off a free throw for Campbell.

Chloe Gannon, who had recently entered the game, brought some confidence, toughness and scored two crucial baskets in the third quarter to keep USI afloat. Head Coach Rick Stein needed to keep Campbell off the board, so he opted with a big lineup to close the third quarter, featuring both Gannon and Madi Webb. This lineup change would help Webb get some good looks and she scored six points in the final three minutes of the third quarter.

In the final quarter of play, USI held a five point advantage which gave them limited comfort, but in playoff basketball, comfort is a luxury and in this game where points are scarce, one offensive run could be the difference.

Meredith Raley opened the scoring for USI after drawing a foul and hitting both free throws. However, Campbell answered almost immediately with a layup. Another scoring drought would ensue, as neither team scored until 6:20, when Vanessa Shafford hit a three pointer off a Lexie Green assist, bringing the lead to eight.

Campbell would respond a minute later with a three of their own, to bring the lead back down to five. They would hit another three with 4:40 to go cutting the lead to a mere two points.

This prompted a timeout by Coach Stein, who needed to settle down the team and make some adjustments. He brought back in Webb and Raley, who got a much needed rest in the fourth quarter. He also brought in Sophia Loden, sophomore guard/forward, who is a swiss army knife of player, she just knows what to do when called upon.

Following a missed three and offensive rebound for Campbell, Shafford stole the ball again, her second steal of the game and the ball eventually found Webb who scored off a Saunders assist with 3:26 left to go. Then six seconds later, Loden swiped the ball away from a Campbell guard, her third of the game. Raley would score a layup off the turnover off a Saunders Assist, which was her seventh of the game. This prompted a timeout by Campbell, in which the arena was sent into a frenzy.

However, the Camels wouldn’t go down easy, as they scored another second chance basket. The following possession, the Eagles showed some tenacity and grit, ending in a third chance layup by Raley to bring the lead to six.

Following a Campbell missed three, Raley grabbed a defensive rebound, her seventh of the game. She then hit a three with 1:15 to go, increasing the lead to nine. Then Campbell, like clockwork, answered with a three of their own.

With time winding down, USI was able to get a defensive stop with 28 seconds to go, which forced Campbell to foul. Raley calmly hit two three throws to bring the lead back to 8. From there, Campbell was forced to foul for the remainder of the game, but to no avail. USI ended victorious in the second round of the WNIT for the second year in a row.

USI- 60 Campbell- 51

Takeaways: 

This was a classic playoff basketball game, both teams played physically demanding defense, and scoring was tough. What separated the teams the most however, was free throws. USI went 19-20 from the line, (95%) which is definitely going to propel a team to victory when scoring is extremely tight. USI forced 18 turnovers, which is a usual characteristic of this team.

Meredith Raley led the team in scoring with 20, many of those coming in the fourth quarter with the game on the line. She also grabbed seven rebounds as well. Webb finished the game with 17 and six rebounds, while Gannon scored eight points and grabbed four rebounds off the bench. Amiyah Buchanan, sophomore forward grabbed four rebounds and played strong defense in her 11 minutes of play. The bigs were crucial to the team’s success.

Shafford and Saunders didn’t score efficiently, but played hard and tough defense. Both had two steals and Saunders had a block as well. Sophia Loden seemed to have a magnet for the ball defensively, as she grabbed four steals. Loden also grabbed a team high eight rebounds in 29 minutes of play off the bench.

It remains to be seen on how severe an injury Triniti Ralston suffered, although she did return to the bench in the second half and was walking around, which is a good sign. Lexie Green may take a larger role in the WNIT if Ralston is forced to miss the next game.

The USI Screaming Eagles will host Buffalo in the Super 16 matchup on Thursday March 26 at Liberty Arena.