For the third straight year both the men and women's basketball teams from CSUB are playing in a WAC semi final. The women played in the early game and unfortunately for Runners fans it did not end the way they had hoped losing 73-72 in double overtime.
There were 11 lead changes throughout the game but perhaps the most exciting came at the end of the third quarter. WAC freshman of the year, Addi Walter, had her 3-point try bounce in at the buzzer to give the Runners the lead going into the fourth.
The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley jumped out to a 7 point lead in that quarter before another Walters 3 brought CSUB back. The Runners would tie it up and it would come down to a missed shot at the buzzer from UTRGV's Idil Turk to send the game to overtime.
CSUB's talisman all season, senior forward Batabe Zempare, drew her 5th foul in overtime so she had to watch the rest of the game on the bench.
It was again a tie game with seconds left on the clock. This time CSUB's Alyssa Shannon had a shot to win it but again the shot missed and the game went into a second overtime.
CSUB had a 72-71 lead with 17 seconds on the clock when Shannon's missed shot resulted in a UTRGV fast break capped with a Rickell Preston layup to give UTRGV the lead. Ericka Williams shot at the end of the second of double overtime would not fall so for the third straight year the Runners' season ends in the final.
"This game was probably the craziest game we've had all season," said Walters. "Lot of emotion. Even though we lost probably one of the funnest games I've ever played in."
Zempare who played her final game for the Runners finished with 25 points and 16 total rebounds and left the court in tears. "If you have an opportunity to take something go out and get it because it's not going to be given to you," said McCall after the game. "We had opportunities to take it and it slipped through our fingers so it's a life lesson for our seniors and our underclassmen."
Despite the loss the Runners held UTRGV to just 29% shooting from the floor.
The men's semi-final game against Seattle U starts at 8:30.
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