Women's basketball receives at-large bid
Mark Wright
Issue date: 3/5/10 Section: Sports
| |
| |
| |
|
Good news came on Wednesday, however, when the Vikings found out they earned an at-large bid to the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Championships at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City.
This is the Vikings' first tournament appearance since 2003. The 32-team field is comprised of 20 automatic qualifiers and 12 at-large selections.
They will face Minot State from North Dakota on Wednesday, March 10 at 12 p.m.
In the championship game against Iowa Wesleyan, the score was tight through most of the first half until Iowa Wesleyan went on a 14-0 run to make it 32-19.
The Vikings closed out the half with five straight points to make it 32-24.
After a slow start to the second half, the Vikings were able to cut Iowa Weslesyan's 20-point lead to five with just four minutes left in the game.
Jennifer Jorgensen, freshman forward, finished with a game-high 23 points and was 10-11 from the free throw line. Bailey Schechinger, senior forward, added 14 points and a game-high seven boards. Micah Reed chipped in nine points and three assists.
Jorgensen was voted as the MCC Women's Basketball Player of the Week. Jorgensen averaged 24 points, 8.5 rebounds and four assists over two games in leading the Vikings She also shot 15 for 17 (88.2 percent), including 6 for 6 on three-pointers and hit 85.7 percent from the free throw line.
In the semi-finals, the Vikings faced No. 3 seed Mt. Mercy. They built a 21 point first half lead as the Mustangs battled back in the second half to get within one point. Grand View played solid defense and hit key free throws down the stretch to pull out the 70-59 win.
"We just knew that if we stuck together and played our game we would win that game," Jamie Sickles, senior guard, said. "I think we pulled together when we needed to and did what we had to do to win the game. We all wanted to beat them really bad so it was going to take a lot to shake us and make us lose that game. I was really proud of how our team pulled together and got the win."
Grand View closed out the first half with a 17-5 run and led 30-19 at the half.
The Mustangs kept fighting, as they closed in 54-53 with 7:03 left in the game. Grand View hit 5 of 6 from the free throw line in the final minute of the game to seal the win.
Jorgensen scored a season-high 28 points along with 13 rebounds for her twelfth double-double of the season. She was 7-8 from the field, 4-4 from behind the arc, and 10-12 from the free throw line and had five blocks. Schechinger matched her season-high with 22 points along with 10 boards. Reed added 10 points and five assists.
Be the first to comment on this story