March 9, 2007
SIOUX CITY, Iowa - No. 2 seed Bethel picked up a win against Sterling College (Kan.), 89-58, to advance to the quarterfinals of the 16th annual NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship at the Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena in Sioux City, Iowa.
The lights went down on day three of the NAIA DII women's basketball championships as KCAC regular season champ Sterling College could not withstand a 21-7 first half run which spanned almost eight minutes from Bethel College as the Pilots were propelled into the NAIA quarterfinals.
The loss by Sterling College eliminates all KCAC teams from championship play.
Bethel College's Natalie Young turned in another dominating performance with 29 points on 11 of 14 shooting from the floor. The 5'11 junior from Berne, IN has now totaled 62 points in two games at the national tournament. Hannah Richards chipped in 13 points and 14 rebounds for the double-double.
Abby Noll, Bethel's all-time leading scorer contributed 18 points in the victory.
Sterling College could not find a way to get things started in the night cap as they fell behind 18-6 with less than six minutes gone by in the first half. The Warriors would only see the lady Pilots lead continue to grow as they trailed 48-26 at the half before stretching their lead to 31 points in the final minute of the game on an Alicia Barczak free throw.
Alicia Collett led Sterling with 17 points while Jill Swisher chipped in 10 to be the only other Warrior in double figures.
Bethel will take on College of the Ozarks at 8:00 p.m. CST in Saturday's quarterfinal round.
For more information on the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship visit www.naia.org.
