Cleveland State began the year at 0-1 after losing the women’s college basketball season-opener on walk-off technical foul free throws. To make matters worse, those free throws never would have happened if the Vikings didn’t call a timeout that didn’t exist.
It was not unlike Chris Webber during the 1993 National Championship.
Fortunately, it happened in a game that was not quite as important! The entire sequence was bonkers.
Cleveland State had a four-point lead over Bowling Green with 14.7 seconds left. A quick inbounds play left a Falcons shooter open from beyond the arc. She knocked down a triple to cut the deficit to one.
86-85 with 11.7 seconds left. The Vikings were immediately fouled on the next play, which sent Colbi Maples to the line with 9.1 seconds left.
She missed both shots.
Bowling Green took the ball up the court and Paige Kohler was fouled while driving to the basket with 1.9 seconds remaining. For Cleveland State to commit a foul in that spot was bad.
What happened next was worse.
Kohler made one of two free throws to tie the college basketball game at 86. The Vikings grabbed the rebound with a chance to win on a full-court heave.
Instead, they called a timeout to advance the ball past half court. There was just one problem.
They didn’t have a timeout left. A technical foul was issued.
The Falcons got two shots and the ball. Lexi Fleming buried both free throws and time expired on the next play, which included a foul and an addition free throw. Bowling Green won 89-86.
Cleveland State was up four with less than 15 seconds. It lost the first game of the college basketball season because of a nonexistent timeout. There aren’t many worse ways to start the year!