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SWEET 16!
CANYON, Texas – How sweet it is.
Northeastern State advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Division II Women’s Championship and the championship game of the South Central Regional with a stunning 56-51 victory over Washburn University at the First United Bank Center at West Texas A&M Saturday afternoon.
The RiverHawks will take a 28-6 record into Monday night’s championship game against Emporia State at 7 p.m. Emporia State (26-5) , the No. 4 seed, upset top seed West Texas A&M 76-69 to advance to the championship game.It will be Northeastern State’s second trip to the Sweet 16, the last time coming in 2004.
“I thought we had a slow start and didn’t have the concentration defensively as far as finding the shooters,” said Northeastern State head coach Randy Gipson. “But I thought we moved fairly well on offense and just missed some shots and free throws. But as has been the case with this team so many times, they were persistent, resilient and kept fighting back.
“We just never know where we are going to find our spark from but today it was Taylor (Lewis) and Tosha (Tyler) that made some plays in the late stages of the first half. They put us within a possession and right then I think our belief level was high and that we could get it done,” said Gipson.
Northeastern State rallied from a 12-point deficit to overtake the 7th-ranked and No. 2 seed Lady Blues late in the first half. The RiverHawks have now won 18 of their last 20 games and snapped Washburn’s 16 game winning streak.
“You don’t think about being 12 down,” said senior Jessica White. “You just have to keep believing. I just want to keep this going as long as I can. I think our belief in each other has really got us to this point.”
Freshman Taylor Lewis of Broken Arrow led 11 RiverHawks in scoring with 13 points followed by Jenks senior Jessica White’s 7 points. Megan Fraley, Jasmine Webb, Sarah Millar and Kendra Dean all scored 6 points as the RiverHawks shot 40 percent (19-of-47) from the field.
Defensively Northeastern State seeded No. 3, held the Lady Blues to 33 percent from the floor (18-54) and out rebounded the much taller Kansas club 28-26. Brette Ulsaker led the Lady Blues scoring with 16 points followed by Hope Gregory with 14 and Dayna Rodriquez’ 12.
“It’s disappointing when you don’t play well your last game,” said Washburn head coach Ron McHenry. “We lost the fight out there. We have to give credit to Northeastern. When we couldn’t make a basket, they exposed us in that area.
“Northeastern is a good team and there is a reason why they are here. They have girls who can hit many threes and you can loose a nine point lead fast,” said McHenry.
The 9-point lead McHenry referred to was at the 2:56 mark of the first half with the Lady Blues leading 26-17. That’s when NSU’s freshmen Lewis and Tyler brought the RiverHawks back to within striking distance.
Lewis, who scored 10 of her 13 points in the first half, drained a 3-point shot from the right wing slicing Washburn’s lead to six points 26-20. Washburn’s Brette put the Lady Blues up eight converting two free throws for a 28-26 Lady Blues advantage.
Lewis cut the lead to six points on a layup. She then stole the ball from Washburn’s Rose Hammond and Tyler drained a 3-point shot just before the buzzer sounded to cut the Washburn lead to 3-points, 28-25 going into the locker room at the half.
“The shot by Tosha was really big,” said Lewis. “That really boosted our confidence coming into the second half.”
Tyler said about her shot, “Actually I wanted it. I wanted to shoot. I really didn’t care how deep I was. I was feeling it. My hands and feet were ready and I just launched it. It went in and I was so excited,” said the Vinita freshman.
Going into the locker room at the half Tyler said her teammates “were controlled.”
The game was tied twice in the final 20 minutes and had six lead changes before the RiverHawks broke a 45-all tie with 6:16 remaining when Dean scored on a layup. Two minutes later it was Dean again scoring on a layup putting NSU up by four points 49-45 with 4:38 remaining.
The RiverHawks then outscored the Lady Blues 7-2 the rest of the way as Northeastern State turned up its defensive pressure limiting Washburn to just one shot on each possession.
Northeastern drained 4-of-4 free throws down the stretch to secure the win. Northeastern was 13-of-20 at the stripe, while Washburn was 10-of 18.
NORTHEASTERN STATE 56, WASHBURN 51
Northeastern State 25 31 —56
Washburn 28 23 – 51
Northeastern State (28-6) – Taylor Lewis 13, Jessica White 7, Megan Fraley 6, Jasmine Webb 6, Sarah Millar 6, Kendra Dean 6, Tosha Tyler 5, Cristy Nitz 5, Alix Perkins 2, Sarah Green 1.
Washburn (27-4) – Brette Ulsaker 16, Hope Gregory 14, Dayna Rodriquez 13, Stevi Schultz 4, Amanda Fressenden 2,, Alyssa Mullen 2.
