The women’s basketball team qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the third straight year. After beating the No. 8 seeded Iowa on the Hawkeyes’ home court Sunday, the Jackets fell short when they faced top-seeded Oklahoma Tuesday night, 69-50. The Jackets finished the season with a 23-10 record.
This marked the second time in three years that the Jackets advanced to the round of 32. The previous was in the 2007 Tournament when the Jacket beat DePaul in first round, before falling to Purdue.
“We’re out there competing against some of the best players in the country, and they’re freshman. [The young Tech players] probably don’t even know what they’re doing half the time. They just know that coach said to do this, so we’re going to go do it,” said Head Coach MaChelle Joseph.
Sophomore guard Deja Foster led the Jackets with 15 points for the game. Junior forward Brigitte Ardossi and sophomore forward Iasia Hemingway also hit double-digit point, picking up 11 and 10 points respectively.
The Sooners came out firing picking up five points within the first minute of play. They were able to expand their lead over the Jackets to 10 point with just over 11 minutes to play in the first half. But Tech was able to mount a come back against Oklahoma, not allowing the Sooners to hit a shot from the field in the last seven minutes of the half. The teams went into halftime tied at 29.
The Jackets were not able to keep their momentum from the first half. Tech’s shooting percentage fell below 15 percent, as apposed to their shooting percentage of over 30 percent in the first half. Oklahoma shot consistently at the 40 percent mark for the game and controlled the second half.
“We have a lot to look forward to and we’re very excited about this off-season… It’s going to be an exciting time for us to grow this program and grow this team,” Joseph said.