PHILADELPHIA – The first celebration late Saturday afternoon was for a victory that, as it turned out, Towson had not clinched.
The second was for an actual win that, the University of Delaware women’s basketball team hopes, can be outdone by a bigger one prompting more fervent revelry Sunday.
The Blue Hens put themselves in that position after prevailing in a wild Colonial Athletic Association Tournament semifinal at the Daskalakis Athletic Center on the Drexel campus.
Tyi Skinner coolly drained two free throws with four-tenths of a second on the clock to give Delaware a 56-55 triumph over Towson, which didn’t get a shot off after a subsequent in-bounds.
BOX SCORE: Delaware 56, Towson 55
“Well, that was fun, right?” Delaware coach Natasha Adair said of the win. “This time of year, we told our team a couple of days ago that March doesn’t care. Anything crazy can happen in March, and you just have to embrace the moments.”
In this crazy ending, Skinner was trying to rebound Ty Battle’s miss on a drive to the basket. But the Tigers’ Tarriyonna Gary, stationed behind her, was called for a loose-ball foul for contact that sent Skinner sprawling onto the floor.
Towson players had swarmed the court because the buzzer sounded and nobody could hear the official’s whistle in the noise. Referees then reviewed the video to see if the call had come before time expired. There was less than half a second left.
Gary had just delivered a clutch 3-pointer to inch Towson ahead 55-54 with 8 seconds left after Jasmine Dickey’s two free throws with 11 seconds to go had put Delaware up 54-52.
“Preparation,” Skinner said of making the two foul shots in such a pressure-packed situation. “You won’t be scared if you prepare right. I take those shots every day in practice. I make them.”
CAA TOURNEY BRACKET: Blue Hens seeded second
No. 2-seeded Delaware (23-7) advanced to Sunday’s final against No. 1-seeded Drexel (26-4) at 1 p.m. (FloHoops.com). Drexel had no trouble with No. 5 Charleston in a 7 win in the first semifinal.
“I’m very, very disappointed,” said Towson coach Diane Richardson. “They made that call . . . I thought my team was the better team. I thought we had won the game. But I never got to see the replay. So I don’t know what happened.
“But the ticks had gone off the clock and we were celebrating and then, all of a sudden, to come back and say ‘We had a whistle.’ I’m really surprised. I’m not going to bash anybody because that’s just not my nature. But I’m disappointed.”
Richardson soon left the postgame press conference in tears.
The Blue Hens are seeking their fifth NCAA Tournament berth, the others coming in 2001 as America East champ, 2007 as an at-large selection and 2012 and 2013 as CAA champion.
REPEAT SELECTION: Player of Year Dickey leads Hens into CAA tourney
Delaware has reached eight CAA title games in its 21 seasons in the league, losing to Old Dominion in 2003 and 2005, James Madison in 2011 and 2014 and Drexel last year at Elon when Delaware was the top seed and Drexel was No. 2.
The Hens will try to return the favor, though it’ll be a tough task as Drexel has won 14 of the last 16 matchups with Delaware, including both this season. If the Hens win, they can turn Sunday night’s Carpenter Center gathering for the 6 p.m. NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament selection show and CAA champ Delaware into a double-header with women’s NCAA selections following at 8.
Dickey, third nationally with 25.1 points per game before Saturday, had 22 points and 16 rebounds. Battle also had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Skinner had 10 points and backcourt make Paris McBride nine with some timely baskets.
No. 3-seeded Towson (24-7) got 15 points each from Garry and Kylie Kornegay-Lucas and 12 from third-team All-CAA forward Allie Kubek, an Elkton, Maryland, resident who was Delaware’s high school Player of the Year as a Sanford School senior in 2020,
GET THE POINT?: Dickey provides prolific scoring, more for Hens
Delaware had beaten Towson twice during the regular season 81-78 and 85-71. Both were on the Tigers’ court because the game in Newark was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols and there was not a suitable date to reschedule it in the Carpenter Center.
Delaware led 22-17 at the end of the first quarter and extended that to 26-20 early in the second period. A 7-0 Towson run culminating with Kubek’s 3-pointer with 5:46 left gave Towson its first lead 27-26.
But the Tigers missed their final eight shots and also had three turnovers as Delaware took a 30-27 lead into halftime. Delaware still led 42-38 entering the fourth quarter. But the Blue Hens had 12 of their 17 turnovers in the second half which gave Towson opportunity.
Towson regained the lead 47-46 on Kornegay-Lucas’ 3-point play off one of those miscues with 3:50 to go, the first of six lead changes and three ties the rest of the way.
“I’m just proud of how we fought from the tip to the final buzzer today,” Adair said.
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