Survive and advance. The Saint Louis University women’s basketball team — seeded #3 in the Atlantic 10 conference tournament — survived their Friday night quarterfinal tilt with #6 Richmond, eeking out a 59-58 overtime win. SLU point guard Ciaja Harbison overcame 6 TOs to tie the game with 33 seconds left in regulation. Then SLU’s rebounding advantage paid off big at the end of overtime, as Brooke Flowers shot once, twice, three times a lady before making the go-ahead layup in the final minute of overtime.

Next up for SLU is #7 UMass, who upset #2 Fordham 80-70 on Friday. SLU faced UMass in back-to-back games in January of this year. When the Bills were drubbed 78-60 at Chaifetz on 1/22, all indications pointed to a rebuilding year: 0-2 in conference, 2-2 for the season, multiple COVID hiatuses.

But the rematch 1/24 was a different story. Flowers played all 40 minutes, grabbed 21 rebounds and blocked 5 UMass shots. Harbison played 39 minutes and was 7 of 8 from the free throw line, also overcoming 6 TOs that night. Myriama Smith Traore was a perfect 5 of 5 from the field and added 3 assists. And Natalie McNeal and Peyton Kennedy came up big off the bench. SLU would go on to win 11 of the next 12 while the Minutewomen (?) lost four straight.

UMass’ main strength seems to be shooting from inside — Sam Breen was 9 of 15 on Friday night vs Fordham — so Flowers will be crucial to success. Survive and advance.

Notes

Data courtesy NCAA.org

Game Score metric created by John Hollinger detailed here: http://www.basketball-reference.com/about/glossary.html

Plot format by Aaron Baggett: https://baseballwithr.wordpress.com/2015/02/17/conceptualizing-the-mlb-strike-zone-using-pitchfx-data/