Their reward? A Friday afternoon date against the No. 1 overall seed, South Carolina, on the Gamecocks’ home floor.
“It’s going to be a tough one,” forward Brooklynn Fort-Davis said. “But we’ve played tough games all season, so we’re ready.”
Grace was looking ahead to the Gamecocks, but she took time to embrace the moment.
“I’m just thankful again for this group of young women that were able to come and make history tonight,” she said. “I am so very proud of them. I want to say thank you to the whole Bison community, the whole Bison family, just all the support that has been poured out. I’m just elated and happy to be able to represent this university.”
On a night when the program entered uncharted territory, it was only fitting that it did so by riding its biggest strengths.
In this matchup of No. 16 seeds, Howard (21-9) won the rebounding battle for the 12th consecutive game and ground down Incarnate Word (13-17) in the fourth quarter, forcing the Cardinals into seven turnovers in the final 10 minutes.
“We mixed it up with them,” Grace said of her team’s defense. “We played man, and we took away some of their looks and their offense. The team did a good job locking in in the second half defensively, and then obviously we started making our free throws down the stretch and made some layups when we needed them that were really crucial.”
Howard shot just 30.9 percent. It missed its final 17 three-pointers and went through a first-half stretch that included 14 straight errant shots.
Leading scorer Destiny Howell spent most of the first half on the bench in foul trouble just four days after she scored a career-high 25 points to guide the Bison past Norfolk State in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament title game. That meant Howard had to play catch-up for most of the evening.
The Bison’s lifeline was what they turned to throughout the season — rebounding. Entering Wednesday’s game, Howard ranked 27th in the country at 41.4 rebounds per game. With their season on the line, the Bison took that advantage to another level by winning the battle on the boards 51-33 and grabbing 22 offensive rebounds compared with two for the Cardinals.
Krislyn Marsh led the way with 16 rebounds to go with 14 points, and Fort-Davis had 15 points and 11 rebounds. All of that led to 21 second-chance points.
“My shots weren’t falling,” Fort-Davis said. “So I knew I had to keep shooting them, and I do excel on crashing the boards. So if they didn’t go in, I just had to go crash and do what I’m good at.”
After Chloe Storer made a three-pointer to end the third quarter and give the Cardinals, the Southland tournament champions, a 38-35 lead, Howard’s offense began to move.
The Bison opened the fourth on a 12-4 run. It was a one-possession game in the final minutes, but Fort-Davis had two key layups to boost the Bison.
Finally, when the clock showed only zeros, this Howard team had a place in program history.
“We’ve built a foundation over the past years that I’ve been here, and that’s what I came here to do,” Grace said. “I came here to compete for conference championships and make a run in the NCAA tournament. That’s what we talk about. That’s what I tell recruits. That’s what we talk to our players about. The future, I think, is in a great place.”