March 17, 2006

JACKSON, Tenn. - Top-seeded Vanguard University (Calif.) held off a threat by fifth-seeded University of the Cumberlands 80-74 in the second round of the 26th annual NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship at Oman Arena.

Vanguard trailed a good portion of the first half, falling behind by as many as seven (25-18) with 9:43 to go, but battled back to take a 45-38 lead into halftime.

In the second half, the Lions jumped out to a 13 point lead, 55-42, with 17:23 to play in the game, but the Patriots fought back to slowly cut into the Vanguard lead, breaking it down to a point (71-70) on a Kristen Roberson field goal with 2:18 to play. After Vanguard's Kelly Schmidt split a pair of double bonus free throws, Hannah Jefferson went down and scored the tying basket (72-72) for Cumberlands with 1:46 on the clock.

That was the closest the Patriots would get to upsetting the top-seeded Lions, as Jessica Richter responded with a basket just seconds later, while drawing a foul from Kristin Kunzman. Richter hit the free throw to complete the 3-point play, and went on to connect on 3-of-4 more attempts down the stretch to help her team advance to their fourth consecutive quarterfinal round.

Richter scored a tournament-best 31 points to lead Vanguard, while Schmidt followed with a double-double 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Cumberlands was led by Tenille Cann's 20 points, while Kunzman followed with 15 and Roberson added 12.

Vanguard improves to 30-1 on the season and advances to the quarterfinals Saturday at 2 p.m. to face Oklahoma Baptist improves to 25-9 on the season and advances to their first-ever quarterfinal appearance on Saturday at 2 p.m. to face the winner of top-seeded Vanguard University (Calif.) and fifth-seeded University of the Cumberlands (Ky.).