Army women’s basketball team failed to score any points in the fourth quarter in the quarterfinals of the WNIT, squandering a four-point lead and dropping the quarterfinal to host Marshall, 82-65, on Monday.
The Black Knights missed 19 straight shots, most of them three-point attempts, as Marshall slowly took control of the game and advanced to the semifinals of the national postseason tournament. Army finished the season with a 26-8 record.
Most interesting is that as the Black Knights’ lead diminished and it became clear the players were having trouble connecting with the basket (Army missed 13 three-point attempts in the quarter), the team failed to use any timeouts to try to slow Marshall’s momentum or give themselves a chance to regroup. In fact, Army used just one timeout in the fourth quarter, with about 1:30 left in the game to make some substitutions and with Marshall comfortably ahead by 13 points.
Army relied on crisp outside shooting to take a 44-37 lead at halftime. The Black Knight hit seven of 13 3-pointers in the first half and three more in the third quarter to take the four-point lead, 65-61, into the final quarter. Reese Ericson finished her stellar career at West Point with five three-pointers, but was 0-for-4 on long-distance attempts in the fourth quarter. Taylor Wilson had 13 points for Army and Kya Smith finished with 12.
Marshall dominated the paint throughout the game, outrebounding Army by five and scoring 44 points inside to just 18 by Army. The Black Knights were just three-for-five from the free throw line, while Marshall went to the line 20 times and made 14 shots.
Since the NCAA went to a four-quarter format in 2015 there have been multiple, but rare, occasions where a team was shutout in a quarter. Most recently, West Virginia shut out its opponent in a quarter in two consecutive games in January 2024.
