Presbyterian sends Sacred Heart packing in First Four. Up next: No. 1 South Carolina
Presbyterian was ready for its One Shining Moment.
The Blue Hose women’s basketball team won its NCAA Tournament debut on Wednesday, knocking off Sacred Heart, 49-42, in a First Four game at Colonial Life Arena.
Presbyterian will face top-seed and undefeated South Carolina at 2 p.m. Friday in a first-round game. It will be the second matchup of the season with the Gamecocks. South Carolina won, 99-29, on Dec. 16.
Preparation for the daunting task of facing the Gamecocks can wait a few hours. Wednesday was the Blue Hose’s time to soak up the historic moment for the school, whose enrollment is just under 1,000 students. PC is the smallest of the 66 teams in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament field.
“We made history,” Presbyterian coach Alaura Sharp said. “It is such a great feeling and I am so proud of our players and so proud of our community for rallying around us. The Blue Hose Nation was deep up there and that means so much to our program. When you create a vision and take over a program and start seeing your vision coming to life, it is the most rewarding feeling. I am forever grateful for this moment and this memory. It will be etched in us forever.”
Mara Neira scored 14 points and Bryanna Brady had 12 to lead the Blue Hose. Big South Tournament MVP Tilda Sjokvist added eight points but knocked down a big jumper with 1:18 left to put Presbyterian up 45-40.
Neira and Sjovist are part of a heavy European presence on the team. The Blue Hose have four foreign-born players on their roster and Sharp remembers explaining to those players the significance of March Madness. She played “One Shining Moment” video played at the end of NCAA Men’s Tournament Championship to her players last year before the Big South Conference Tournament.
“Winning this game, I am still in shock,” said Neira, who is from Galica, Spain. “... I am just excited to be here.”
Presbyterian entered the NCAA Tournament as the longest of long shots and were almost 10-point underdogs against Sacred Heart, which was making its fourth postseason appearance and defeated Southern in a First Four game last season.
The Blue Hose (21-14) finished fourth in the Big South this year and lost four players to season-ending injuries. But they won three straight games in the conference tournament to earn a spot in the Big Dance.
It turned out to be a perfect storm. Presbyterian was assigned to the Columbia regional, and many of its fans made the 63-mile trek down Interstate 26 to Columbia. Chants of “Blue! Hose! Blue! Hose!” started before the team hit the court and continued throughout the night.
After the game, the Blue Hose players gathered at the free-throw line and took turns waving to the fans, many of which were dressed in blue and white.
“We have nobody that’s experienced anything like this even on our coaching staff,” Sharp said. “So, it is a memory that will we will remember forever. Just being the underdog and smallest school to play and now smallest school to ever win a game in the tournament. I love that and we’ll kind of keep playing that card.”
Behind a strong first half from Neira, Presbyterian led by as many as 14 points in the first half and were up 29-18 early in the third quarter. But the Pioneers’ pressure defense held PC without a field goal the final 6:40 of the third to cut the lead to 35-30.
Brady, the Blue Hose star post player, scored six straight points in the fourth quarter to push the lead to 41-34 with 6:07 left. The Arizona native scored half of her 12 points in the fourth quarter and has been a big player for the Blue Hose during her career.
Brady, who began her career at UC Riverside, has been one of the cornerstones of the program for the past three years. But her status for this year was up in the air. She petitioned the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility but Sharp didn’t think she would get it and even began recruiting her replacement.
Sharp said she got a commitment from a player on the same day that NCAA granted Brady her sixth season and made a difficult call to the recruit.
Brady also had offseason hip surgery but attacked the rehab and ended up leading the Blue Hose in scoring and rebounding this season.
“I got that appeal and put my head down and worked,” Brady said. “.... And when it was time to work, we got here and made history.”
Columbia’s NCAA WBB Tournament Schedule
- Friday: No. 8 North Carolina vs. No. 9 Michigan State, 11:30 a.m. (ESPN2)
- Friday: No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 16 Presbyterian, 2 p.m. (ESPN)
- Sunday: Winners of Friday games, TBD (TBD)
This story was originally published March 20, 2024 at 9:09 PM.
