COLUMBIA – The Blue Hose led all night long with their backs to a wall.

Presbyterian College, the smallest school, 8-8 in the Big South Conference, surprise tournament champion, defeated Sacred Heart, 49-42, for not only the first NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament (First Four) victory but in the first game.

Ever.

PC head coach Alaura Sharp called it “dreams come true for all of us.”

Defense pulled the trick. The Blue Hose collectively frustrated one of the nation’s more versatile players, a 5-3 fireplug who somehow manages to lead the Pioneers in both scoring and rebounding.

Ny’Ceara Pryor scored 12 points. She grabbed seven rebounds. Made seven steals! But she hit 3/19 shots. Sacred Heart shot .254 (16/63) overall and .130 (3/23) of the elusive triples.

Mara Neira led the always balanced Blue Hose with 14 points, followed by Bryanna Brady with 12. PC had eight players with three or more rebounds, led by Neira with six. The Blue Hose popped 16/19 free throws but 1/11 for three. They weathered 18 turnovers.

Neira, a junior from Galicia, Spain, by way of Eastern Wyoming, said, “You know, I never been here before. I never been in this March Madness. I’m still in shock.”

Being more local (Goodyear, Ariz.), Brady, had more of an insider’s view.

“I think it’s crazy that we got here just doing what what we were doing,” she said. “Being able to be a part of history, you know what I mean? … It puts so much love in my heart. It makes me so happy for the program, for the community, for everybody around.”

What offset the aggravations? Defense. And love.

“We have love for each other,” Sharp said, “and we have respect because, when you’re on a team, it’s like being in a family.

“We always go back to one-on-one conversations. I spend a lot of time one-on-one with our players, and I’ll ask them questions like, how can I coach you better? The kids are honest with me, and I’m honest with them.”

Imminent doom awaits, but it is an extraordinary doom.

By pulling the latest in a string of surprises, and defeating a team that won a First Four game a year earlier, Presbyterian (21-14) gets to play the nation’s No. 1 team, South Carolina (32-0), on its home court for a second time in the same season.

Hoosiers meets Spaceballs.

The first time didn’t turn out so well. The Gamecocks won, 99-29, on Dec. 16, 2023. PC is playing the same team to which it earlier lost by 70 points in the national tournament.

There is no story like a PC story.

If Presbyterian wins on Friday at 2 p.m., somebody’s going to launch an investigation.

But why worry? Graded on an adjusted curve – from smallest school in Division I (the number keeps getting smaller every time I hear it on TV) to second round of the NCAA Tournament, or from odds-on favorite for the national title to actually winning it – PC has gone as far this season as the Gamecocks.

Not that Dawn Staley is consumed in regret. The splendid coach of the Gamecocks has no apparent yearning to start over.

South Carolina makes Gibraltar a pebble, but let’s get back to a normal sort of upset over Sacred Heart.

Presbyterian won for the ninth time in 10 games. The Blue Hose got considerably better. They clicked. They jived. They came alive.

“It’s such a great feeling, and I’m so proud of our players and I’m so proud of our community for really rallying around us,” stated Sharp. “The Blue Hose Nation was deep up there, and that means so much to your program. When you create a vision when you take over a program and start seeing it come to life, it’s the most rewarding feeling. I’m forever grateful for this moment and this memory that will be etched in us forever.”

PC trailed only briefly, in the first quarter, and dominated the second. A Mara Neira three-pointer hiked the edge to 25-11, and the Hose led at halftime, 29-17.

Sacred Heart (24-9) almost ran down the Blue Hose in the third quarter, climbing within three and finishing the period down five.

The fourth quarter was a progression of the Pioneers making runs that were rebuffed each time by PC. The stretch became a war of attrition. SHU got within three points (45-42) with 27.8 seconds remaining, but Neira and Paige Kindseth cashed in four free throws. 

Take a look at the stats here.

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