IU’s season almost ended.
With 7.7 seconds remaining in the first overtime period of IU’s matchup against No. 10-seed Michigan State on Thursday night, the Hoosier inbounded the ball on their own side of the court.
Senior forward Amanda Cahill, who was the most sure-handed Hoosier of the night, missed her layup, allowing Michigan State’s Shay Colley to let off a long shot. The ball went in, and IU and its senior duo of Cahill and guard Tyra Buss thought their season was over.
Michigan State began to celebrate, while Indiana held its breath.
“A couple of my teammates were saying, ‘The clock stopped. The clock stopped,’” Cahill said. “And I think all of us were just like, ‘Are you sure?’ and sending up some prayers and just hoping. We were trying to read the ref’s lips and seeing what he would say.”
The officials reviewed the game clock, which was ruled to have frozen at 2.5 seconds after Cahill missed her layup. The final shot was voided, and the officials induced a second overtime period.
It would take that and two more periods for a winner to be determined, as IU and Michigan State played the longest game in big Ten Tournament history. The Hoosiers left Bankers Life Fieldhouse winners, after a 111-109 victory boosted them into the Big Ten quarterfinals for the first time since 2015.
“That’s been the tale of (Cahill) and Tyra all year,” IU head coach Teri Moren said. “They’re going to will their team to victory. (Cahill) was really, really good tonight. I’m happy for our entire group, staff, everybody, but I’m most happy for Tyra and (Cahill).”
The game wasn’t close in its entirety. IU had led by as many as 13 points in the first half before Michigan State stormed back and took the lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Cahill was having a career night, scoring 11 points in the first quarter before finishing the game with a career-best 38. Buss was struggling in that department, as she scored 10 points in the first half but just four in the second half, plus three second half turnovers. The senior guard finished regulation shooting 5-of-17.
But Buss continued to shoot.
“I’m a great shooter, and my teammates believe in me and I believe in myself,” Buss said. “The whole game, my teammates kept telling me, ‘Keep shooting. Keep shooting.’ My coaches just told me that they believed in me, so that really means a lot to me.”
After putting up 14 points in regulation, Buss responded with 10 more points in the four overtime periods following, including a 3-point shot that gave IU a 109-107 lead late in the final overtime period.
The Spartans responded with a couple free throws to tie the game at 109-109 with 20 seconds left in the game. Moren and the IU coaching staff knew exactly where they were going to go for the final play — it wasn’t Buss.
“At the very end, we wanted to put the ball in Amanda Cahill’s hands,” Moren said. “That was what we chose to do.”
With the ball, Cahill was fouled with 3.6 seconds remaining. Hitting both free throws would surely win or force a fifth overtime period. Cahill had not only reached 30 points for the first time in her career, but she had set a new IU record for points in one Big Ten Tournament game and tied Buss for the fourth-best shooting performance in program history.
The senior forward had shot 5-of-7 from three, 14-of-20 from the field, and added nine rebounds, six assists and four blocks. Both seniors had played every minute of the game — all 60 minutes. She had kept IU afloat throughout the majority of the game, and now she had a chance to put the team in a position to win.
“There was no question in my mind that she was going to hit both of them,” Moren said.
That’s exactly what Cahill did. She hit both free throws to put IU up 111-109, and with one solid defensive performance and a prayer of a shot for Michigan State that bricked off the rim, IU won the marathon.
But Cahill said it wasn’t just the two seniors that got the job done.
Every starter scored in double digits, and each player stepped up in crucial moments. Junior center Kym Royster played the entire overtime duration with four fouls and never fouled out.
Freshman guard Bendu Yeaney had two clutch blocks and three scores toward the end of overtime periods that kept IU within reach, including the layup that forced the final overtime period.
Freshman guard Jaelynn Penn put up 16 points and brought down seven rebounds in 59 minutes of play.
They melded together into one unit, more so than in previous games when one playmaker was needed for each game. Now that unit is moving on to play No. 2-seeded Maryland, who beat the Hoosiers, 74-70 in College Park in January.
“We were sticking together and just battling through any tiredness that we felt,” Cahill said. “It was a big moment for us. I was really proud of my entire team because I thought everyone stepped up at different times, just played really well and we stuck together.”
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