March 10, 2007

SIOUX CITY, Iowa - MidAmerica Nazarene University (Kan.) became the first No. 2 seed to advance to the semifinals with a 79-71 over No. 1 seed University of Saint Francis (Ind.) on Saturday in the quarterfinals of the 16^th annual NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship at the Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena in Sioux City, Iowa.

The two squads traded the lead three times and were tied on four occasions in a back-and-forth first half. MidAmerica (33-3) was able to separate from Saint Francis going on an 11-4 spurt over a three-minute span midway through the first half.

 

Saint Francis (28-8) battled back to cut the lead to one with 1:45 left in the first half, but MidAmerica closed out the first half on a strong note, outscoring the Cougars 5-0, for a 38-32 lead.

 

Jessica Hathaway scored the opening bucket of the second half for Saint Francis to pull them within four, but that proved to be as close as the Cougars would get. MidAmerica opened up an advantage of as many as 16 during the second half.

The Cougars cut the lead to single digits on multiple occasions, but each time MidAmerica answered, pushing the lead back to the 10-13 point mark.

 

The Lady Pioneers had nine different players score in the game, including a game-high 20 points and 13 rebounds. Aubrey Clair added 15 points and four assists. Jess Gray came off the bench to add 15 points for MidAmerica. As a team, the Lady Pioneers were accurate from the floor, converting on 50.9 percent of their chance.

 

Saint Francis was led by Ton Burney in scoring with 17 points. Chivon Keppeler added 16 points while Nikki Lewis and Marie Kaufmann chipped in with 11 and 10 points respectively.

 

The Lady Pioneers will take on the winner the Ozarks vs. Bethel contest in the semifinals on Monday, March 12 at 8:00 p.m.  

For more information on the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship visit www.naia.org.