SAN ANTONIO — It felt like Lotta-Maj Lahtinen wouldn’t miss. She couldn’t.
Georgia Tech built its lead in the third quarter, and Lahtinen stood on the wing. She took a few dribbles to juke a West Virginia defender, but the shot clock’s final seconds ticked away. A buzzer sounded, and she threw up a prayer.
She took an off-stride shot. Nearly every component of a correct stroke went away. It didn’t matter. Swish.
All she could do was backpedal, and smile a little.
“Shooters shoot, man,” Lahtinen said with a laugh. “I know that’s my game. You have to trust it every time you step on the court.”
Lahtinen walked out of Texas-San Antonio’s Convocation Center on Tuesday by dunking water on her head coach, Nell Fortner, and scoring a team-high 22 points in the 73-56 rout of fourth-seeded West Virginia. Lahtinen needed the moment to sink in. She smiled, laughed and nearly couldn’t believe that the Yellow Jackets were headed to their second Sweet 16 in program history.
Tech wouldn’t have done it without its star guard, either. Lahtinen’s crisp shooting touch and competitiveness came alive after the Mountaineers jumped to an early lead. She willed the Jackets to victory, joining forces with double-double machine Lorela Cubaj, who added 21 points and 12 rebounds.
“You’re kind of unconscious when you want to win,” Lahtinen said. “I like to think I’m very competitive, and it’s a mindset at that point. You battle and leave everything on the floor.”
Seventeen of Lahtinen’s 22 points came in the first half. Tech had to battle back from nine down, and it wasn’t going to have a repeat performance of trailing by 17 against Stephen F. Austin. A comeback for the ages had its thrill, but Lahtinen turned the fortunes early and allowed the Jackets to build a lead of their own.
Against Stephen F. Austin on Sunday, Lahtinen had a respectable 14 points. It’s not a stat line to scoff at, but not to the standard of a player who has a season-high of 30 points against N.C. State and had 12 games of 15-or-more points entering play.
Lahtinen finished 0-for-7 from 3-point range against the Ladyjacks. Forty-eight hours made all of the difference in her shooting touch. Fortner has seen her junior leader bounce back before, so she expected nothing different against West Virginia and gladly gave the green light.
Credit: Stephen Spillman
Credit: Stephen Spillman
Lahtinen responded with a 9-for-16 shooting clip and 4-for-9 from 3-point range.
“She has it in her. I don’t have to tell her,” Fortner said. “She knows we have tremendous confidence in her. Her shot looked really good tonight.”
Lahtinen played every second against West Virginia until Fortner pulled her big three — which includes Cubaj and Kierra Fletcher — off the floor with a warm embrace with a minute to go. Lahtinen did it all, too, and it wasn’t just shooting.
Fortner liked to use the term “gritty,” albeit a coachspeak cliche, to describe Lahtinen. She personified the moniker with four rebounds and three steals. Like she had on numerous occasions this season, Lahtinen came to life and affected the game in every facet.
“We did fight very well today,” Lahtinen said. “You have to be confident when you go out on the court. That’s what we did. We hustled, got defensive stops and got ourselves to the Sweet 16.”
On the tournament stage, Lahtinen found her spotlight. She couldn’t miss.
So far, her team can’t lose either.
“This is what we dreamed of,” Lahtinen said. “We’re going to go all the way.”
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