She could have taken it to the rim for the tie ... or pulled up and gone for what she hoped was the win. Texas A&M's Chennedy Carter did the latter ... and it was the final dagger that toppled DePaul.
Carter's 3-pointer from the top of the key with 3.2 seconds left capped a 17-point comeback for the 4-seed Aggies as they beat No. 5 DePaul 80-79 and avoided being the second SEC team to lose on its home court in the second round. While the Aggies were rallying against the Big East champion Blue Demons, No. 3 seed Tennessee was in the midst of falling to No. 6 Oregon State in Knoxville, Tennessee.
But the Aggies avoided sending their fans in College Station, Texas, home disappointed with the fourth-largest comeback in women's NCAA tournament history. They took it right to edge, though, with the game not in hand until Jasmine Lumpkin's steal closed it out. Lumpkin also had 10 rebounds.
Such drama is familiar to Texas A&M fans. Last year, the Aggies rallied from 21 points down in the NCAA tournament first round to beat Penn 63-61, the largest comeback in the women's NCAA tournament. Carter was still in high school then.
Sunday, they needed every bit of her scoring wizardry, and she got 32 of her 37 points in the second half.
How it was won: DePaul was the best 3-point shooting team in the country, and the Blue Demons hit their average with 12 treys Sunday. And they shot better from the field -- 44.8 percent to 39.4 -- than the Aggies. A big key, though, was rebounding, as Texas A&M won the board battle 46-34. Well, that and the fact that Carter, the espnW freshman of the year, couldn't be stopped in the second half. She finished 7-of-9 from behind the 3-point line for the game.
Player of the game: Of course, it's Carter. She and backcourt mate Danni Williams started the game in a shooting funk, the opposite of what happened in Friday's first-round victory vs. Drake. But by the time Carter found her groove, the Blue Demons were hoping the clock ran out before she caught up with them. It didn't. Texas A&M outscored DePaul 27-16 in the fourth quarter.
Stat of the game: As much as this was Carter's game, a big shout-out also has to go to forward Anriel Howard, who is already the Aggies' career leader in rebounds as a junior. She is one of the best on the boards in the country, and that kept the Aggies alive while their perimeter game was struggling Sunday. Howard finished with 19 rebounds and also had 18 points.
What's next: Texas A&M (26-9) will face the winner of 1-seed Notre Dame and 9-seed Villanova in the regional semifinals on Saturday in Spokane. DePaul ends its season at 27-8.