McFeely: Bison had their chance and couldn't quite close deal

All the Bison needed was to play their game. Make their shots. Be themselves. Find a way to overcome SDSU's defense.

They couldn't do it. They just couldn't get there.

With a berth in the big tournament on the line in a hostile Denny Sanford Premier Center, NDSU played like there was a berth in the big tournament on the line in a hostile Denny Sanford Premier Center.

They clanked shots, long and short. Elle Evans and Heaven Hamling, wonderful all season, missed open 3-pointers. Abbie Draper and Abby Schulte had a tough time with layups. They looked like they were in a mad rush to do everything when a slow walk would've sufficed.

SDSU was beatable on this day. Eminently beatable.

Final score: SDSU 67, NDSU 54.

Sigh.

The Jackrabbits continue their dominance.

The Bison continue to chase.

The good news: NDSU is closer.

The bad news: SDSU isn't going anywhere.

This year, in fact, was maybe the best chance the Bison will have at knocking off the Jackrabbits. SDSU was devastated by injuries and played most of the season with only seven bodies, which explains the apparent fatigue early in the game. Coach Aaron Johnston's team expects to reload next season with returning players and new recruits.

So when the Jackrabbits stumbled out of the blocks, making 11 turnovers by the time a few seconds had elapsed in the second quarter, the Bison couldn't pounce. Instead, they misfired. Again, again and again.

"If you make more shots, you're probably going to win the game. They rolled out for us, which really sucks," Hamling said. "Those are shots we usually make. I know we make a lot more threes than that. But we didn't."

Instead of being up 6 or 8 or 10 points early, and perhaps planting that seed of doubt in the powerhouse's mind, NDSU found itself trailing 11-10 at the end of the first quarter. For aggressive as the Bison were, they were just 5 of 15 from the floor. Hamling and Evans combined to go 2 of 10.

Their chance evaporated and the Jackrabbits began playing more like the Jackrabbits.

"I thought we were guarding and I thought we were turning them over," Collins said. "They've been a phenomenal defensive team for a really long time. They're playing seven guys and they're really connected on that end of the floor. ... We had to make shots against them. I gave our kids the green light to get them up and if we make them, we might win that game. If you don't, you don't. And that's part of it playing against those guys you've got to take what you can get."

That doesn't mean the game was over early. Anything but. Despite getting down, the Bison hung in there. Even after falling behind by six points after a three-point play by SDSU's Brooklyn Meyer with 6:55 left in the fourth quarter that had the blue-clad crowd roaring, NDSU scored five straight to get within 47-46.

Two free throws and a 3-point bomb from Hamling got the Bison there and a defensive stop at the other end gave them the ball with a chance to take the lead. Again, a chance. New ballgame.

But an ill-advised pass by Evans was picked off by SDSU's Paige Meyer at midcourt and led to an easy layup. Another Bison turnover led to a three-point play by Mesa Byom and the Jackrabbits led again by six.

The arena was shaking again. This time, it was game over.

"We got down a little but we fought back and that's what NDSU basketball is. We're fighters and we don't quit," Hamling said. "When I made that shot I said, 'Let's keep it going.' Unfortunately it didn't happen."

Cutting down the nets will have to wait. The Bison filed back to their locker room while the Jackrabbits did that task again. But something must be remembered.

When Hamling came to NDSU's campus as a transfer in 2019, Bison women's basketball was as irrelevant as it had been since the 1980s before Amy Ruley built an NCAA Division II powerhouse. There was no thought of NDSU making an NCAA Division I tournament. Like, zero.

Hamling and Collins slowly built a competitive team, through ups and downs, that at long last had a chance to beat SDSU and make the women's Big Dance. That is progress. Hamling is finished, but the program is in much better shape today than when she arrived.

"I mean, this is emotional for me, obviously. But Jory has always looked at me as a leader, but in all reality he's been my leader for four or five years. Me coming in and just playing with a chip on my shoulder, I hope I left a mark for all of the rest of these guys and the commits that are coming," Hamling said. "I just hope you play like I would play, with my heart every single time. I can't thank everyone enough."

The story finished with SDSU celebrating on the court in Sioux Falls again. With a little better start, a few more shots made, the ending might have been different.

This one was there for the taking.