SAN ANTONIO — All of the players left the court on Texas-San Antonio’s campus after beating West Virginia on Tuesday evening and mobbing each other near halfcourt. Nell Fortner stayed around for a moment longer.
Georgia Tech’s coach wanted to soak it in. She went for a walk and couldn’t stop smiling as she meandered around the hardwood. Fortner pumped her fists and raised her arms skyward a few times. In the second season of her new project with the Yellow Jackets, she did what many thought was improbable — reach a regional semifinal in her second season.
“Their hard work and seeing it come to fruition has been a joyful time in my coaching career,” Fortner said.
Tech finds itself in a spot that Fortner couldn’t even have dreamt of in her opening years at the helm. A dominating 73-56 over West Virginia followed the draw of good fortune as the Jackets mounted a 17-point comeback and topped Stephen F. Austin by two points in the opening round.
The group that had exceeded nearly every expectation is the lowest seed remaining (along with fifth-seeded Missouri State) in the tournament and a game away from officially wearing Cinderella’s slipper.
Tech’s biggest test comes Sunday against top-seeded South Carolina (1 p.m., ABC), and the Gamecocks are on a run fueled by All-American forward Aliyah Boston and her supporting cast. Tech, however, doesn’t make its first trip to the Alamodome if it were easily intimidated.
These Jackets want to see if they can match what the favorites have to offer.
“We’re here for a reason,” senior guard Kierra Fletcher said. “We’re one of the top 16 teams here, and we’re going into that game with nothing to lose. Why not us? There are a lot of people who are counting us out, but we know what we’re capable of.”
After beating the Mountaineers, Fortner didn’t take much time to address it with her team. Tech knows it assumes the underdog role and the challenge is steep when it comes to South Carolina. The first word out of Fortner’s mouth when asked about the Gamecocks was, “Wow.”
The Jackets, like many undervalued teams across the sport, are feeding off of the doubt. The veteran group led by the 1-2 punch of guard Lotta-Maj Lahtinen and post presence Lorela Cubaj were picked ninth in the ACC preseason poll. Tech never cracked the AP Top 25 despite finishing third in the conference and were seen as a fringe No. 5 seed ahead of the tournament selection.
Yet, here they are, as one of the nation’s top teams still standing. Fletcher said there can’t be a semblance of doubt that creeps in for Tech. The second-half dominance of West Virginia, another team that was a heavy favorite over the Jackets, gave the leadership in navy and gold some new life.
The approach is aggressive, but Tech isn’t barricaded by pressure.
“We’re going to lay it on the line and see what it gets us,” Fortner said. “I’m happy we get that opportunity. We’re not supposed to be here. Nobody expected us to be here. We’re playing hard and seeing what happens through that.”
Tech’s confidence comes not only from a tournament run, but from nearly beating the upper-echelon teams it faced throughout the season. The Jackets took Georgia, a No. 3 seed that lost in the second round, to overtime at the end of November. They lost two single-digit decisions to ACC-champion N.C. State, and held a second-half lead over the Wolfpack to nearly advance to the conference title game against Louisville.
At the right time, the Jackets find themselves clicking on all cylinders. Their half-court offense has found a recipe to success with Lahtinen and Cubaj over the past six quarters. They combined for 43 points and 16 rebounds against West Virginia.
Tech allows an average of 61 points per game, but the lockdown brand of defense comes in spurts. At any point through the season, it hasn’t faded. The Jackets went full-on press to beat Stephen F. Austin, then made West Virginia go over five minutes without a made field goal by using its conventional style of play.
“We keep this going, and it’s going to be very hard to beat us,” Cubaj said. “We came this far, so we have to give it all.”
South Carolina rolls into Sunday’s game with blowout wins over Mercer and Oregon State. Boston (14.1 points, 11.7 rebounds per game) leads the way as the Gamecocks’ dominating presence and top offensive option. Fletcher believed Tech could match up well with South Carolina’s bigs, instilling faith in Cubaj and Nerea Hermosa.
Sunday’s game could boil down to the guard play. Lahtinen might need a similar performance to Tuesday when going up against South Carolina’s Zia Cooke. Fletcher and Loyal McQueen also will have the job of containing Destanni Henderson and Brea Beal.
“They are really, really good,” Fortner said. “I look at South Carolina and don’t see many weaknesses from them.”
Tech evaluates its own run of success with pride. A sense of belief permeated through the locker room at the exact moment when they doused their head coach with water after beating the Mountaineers. Now, the underdogs try to do it again.
If Fortner begins to pace after the final buzzer with a Sunday smile, it’s probably a good sign for the Jackets.
“We’re ready to give it all we’ve got,” Fletcher said.
