— By David Walsh
Marshall went scoreless at the wrong time.
The Thundering Herd missed its final six shots and did not score over the final 4:14 of a 73-58 loss to South Alabama in the fourth round of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament at the Pensacola Bay Center in Pensacola, Fla.
This is the first time the Jaguars have beaten the Herd. They had been 0-4 until Friday.
“That is never how you want the season to finish,” Herd coach Juli Fulks said. “Proud of the effort over a 31-game season. We had a lot of really good moments this year. A lot to be proud of. We packed the gym (Cam Henderson Center) and had a lot of fans here today. We have six seniors and it’s a shame you can’t go out on your own terms. You’re incredibly elated or just devastated. It’s one or the other. This segment of your life is over. We fought through a lot. Hats off to South Alabama. They played a really good game and hit a lot of shots.”
A year ago, Marshall played its first tournament game on Tuesday and won four before bowing out. South Alabama, a No. 12 seed, is following a similar path. The Jaguars meet No. 4 James Madison in a quarterfinal Saturday.
Marshall finishes 23-9. The 23 wins are the third-most in a single season in Herd women’s basketball history. The team also more than doubled its regular-season win total from last year, finishing plus-12 in that category in Fulks’ second season in charge.
After trailing by 12 at halftime, the Herd twice got within six points in the fourth period, but could not muster the offense to make it interesting.
The Jaguars hit 18-of-23 free throws in the second half.
“We’re not supposed to be here, that’s what everybody else said,” South Alabama coach Yolisha Jackson said. “It shows we can go five, six, seven days. I’m excited to coach one more day. See how we compete. Runs can go either way. Our way we want to keep going.”
In the fourth period, Marshall cut the deficit to 58-52. South Alabama took over from there. The Jaguars had just four threes, but made 23-of-46 shots and 23-of-30 free throws.
“They’re on the same track as us last year,” Fulks said. “You get a game under your belt and normalize things a bit. We had fresher legs. We were not able to execute when we needed to. Gave them extra possessions and too much inside.”
The Herd sank just 22-of-71 shots, including 8 of 37 from three. Marshall made 6-of-12 free throws.
Chrysta Narcisse led the Jaguars with 18 points and made 8-of-8 free throws. Renaltha Marc scored 17 and Daniela Gonzalez added 12.
Marshall’s Timaya Lewis-Eutsey, the Sun Belt Newcomer of the Year, totaled 18 points, eight steals and six rebounds. The steal total is one off the tournament record of nine, set by Western Kentucky’s Dawn Warner in 1996.
Logan native Peyton Ilderton made four threes on the way to 14 points. Timberlynn Yeast closed with 10. Meredith Maier was held scoreless.
“South Alabama is like us last year,” Marshall’s Blessing King said. “They had nothing to lose. We’re on fresh legs, but not locked in.”
“They’re a pretty deep team,” Fulks said. “We held them to four threes. We didn’t want to foul as much. The (foul) line kept them in the game. We had 71 (shots) and only 58 points.”