UD women in WNIT Final 4
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — This was hardly the way Delaware would have drawn it up.
The Blue Hens were playing without their starting point guard while their top scorer was hobbled by a leg injury.
And on the other end of the court was a bigger, battle-tested Villanova squad.
But none of that stopped the Hens from posting a gutsy 77-70 victory over the Wildcats in the WNIT Charlotte regional semifinal on Monday night.
The hard-earned third-straight win in the women’s basketball tournament for Delaware (24-4) sends the Hens to the WNIT Final Four for the first time in the program’s history. The Hens are slated to head to Memphis, Tennessee, where they will face Rice on Friday at 5 p.m.
While the WNIT certainly doesn’t have anywhere near the same prestigious as the NCAAs, this accomplishment ranks probably only second to Delaware’s 2013 trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 in program history.
“I have so many emotions right now,” said UD coach Natasha Adair. “But this is who we are. We play together, we compete together, we fight together. And this is a team who wants this.
“This is a team who, when we decided to come out here, when we were invited to come out here, we came out here with one goal — and it was one game at a time and it didn’t matter who the opponent was. We were going to compete for 40 minutes and we did that today. We played Delaware basketball from the tip to the final buzzer, and it was a group effort.”
After a back-and-forth contest that featured 14 lead changes and four ties, the Hens never trailed after taking 57-55 advantage with 7:13 left. Freshman point guard Tyi Skinner got the ball inside to senior forward senior Lizzie Oleary for the basket.
The Hens eventually led by as much as 72-62 with 1:35 left before holding off the Wildcats (17-7). It was Delaware’s sixth straight win over Villanova although the two squads hadn’t played since 2012.
The Hens lost starting point guard Paris McBride (knee) in their second-round win over Clemson on Saturday. But Skinner — the 5-foot-5 freshman who hit two half-court shots against Clemson — responded with 22 points and four assists while being the only UD player on the court for all 40 minutes.
“For our freshman Tyi ‘Showtime’ Skinner to step up and play how she did and to lead us is phenomenal,” said Adair.
Delaware also got 22 points from standout Jasmine Dickey. The high-scoring junior guard had to go to the bench for an extended stretch of the second half with a leg injury but returned to help the Hens close out the win.
Junior forward Ty Battle also came up big, collecting another double-double with 17 points and 14 rebounds.
Making the WNIT Final Four helps make up for the Hens’ disappointment after losing to Drexel in the CAA Tournament championship game. Monday’s win gives Delaware a total of four wins over Big East and ACC programs this winter.
“We talked about grinding it out,” said Adair. “Postseason is a grind, every possession is gold. And I am just so proud of our group and how they represent not only what we do, they represent Delaware basketball, and just our whole university and our community.”
