Marshall's OT win over James Madison in the Sun Belt title game produced one of the most bizarre box scores you'll ever see
The Thundering Herd attempted 46 more shots than the Dukes and James Madison turned it over 39 times
Marshall took down James Madison in a 95-92 overtime thriller in the Sun Belt championship game to clinch a berth in the women’s NCAA tournament.
Monday’s game was fantastic. James Madison overcame a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Marshall, however, was able to hold on for its first tournament appearance since 1997. Marshall was a member of the Southern Conference that season. The Sun Belt is the third conference the Thundering Herd have been a part of since that final year in the SoCon.
But the most remarkable part of the game isn’t Marshall snapping a nearly 30-year tournament drought or James Madison’s comeback. It’s the utter ridiculousness of the way the two teams somehow played to a tie at the end of regulation and were separated by just three points at the end of overtime.
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We’ll start with the disparity in 3-point shooting. Marshall is absolutely unafraid to shoot the ball from beyond the arc. The Thundering Herd lead women’s college basketball with 32 3-point attempts per game and shot a staggering 46 3-pointers.
Marshall made just eight of those 46 shots and shot just 17% from behind the arc. Aislynn Hayes’ 3 gave Marshall an 86-85 lead with 2:01 to go in overtime; it was a lead that Marshall wouldn’t relinquish.
James Madison, meanwhile, entered the game averaging over 17 3-pointers per game. The Dukes shot just 11 and made five of them.
Overall, Marshall shot just 30% from the field and took an incredible 99 shots. Meredith Maier shot the ball 21 times — including 15 3-pointers — and five players had at least 12 shot attempts.
James Madison shot 51% from the field and took just over half the shots that Marshall did. The Dukes were 27-of-53. Yes, there was a 46-shot difference between the two teams.
A big reason for that differential? James Madison’s turnovers. The Dukes turned the ball over an incredible 39 times — four players had at least five turnovers — while Marshall turned the ball over just 12 times. The Thundering Herd also got a lot of second chances from their deep shooting on the offensive glass. While James Madison outrebounded Marshall 59 to 50, Marshall had 33 offensive rebounds.
The teams also went to the free-throw line over 80 times. James Madison was 33-of-45 from the stripe, while Marshall was 27-of-38. There were 63 fouls called as four players fouled out and four others finished with four fouls.
