Georgia Gwinnett, Haskell Indian Nations Advance to CAC Women’s Basketball Championship Final
Working hard and needing to be on top of their games, especially in the second half, the No. 1-seeded Georgia Gwinnett College and No. 2-seed Haskell Indian Nations University (Kansas) teams won hotly contested semifinal contests on Saturday in the Continental Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Championships, being hosted at GGC's Convocation Center.
GGC (20-6) pulled away with a strong fourth quarter to defeat a determined No. 4-seed Washington Adventist University (Maryland) squad 73-54. That came after Haskell Indian Nations outlasted a pesky No. 3-seed Florida National University squad 78-72.
The tournament's championship game between the Grizzlies and Fightin' Indians is set for Sunday, March 1, at 7 p.m. The winner earns the right to represent the league in the upcoming NAIA national tournament.
Here are recaps from Saturday's exciting semifinal contests:
Semifinal 1: No. 2 Haskell Indian Nations University 78, No. 3 Florida National University 72
After working hard to build an 18-point lead, Haskell Indian Nations had to put even more effort in holding off a furious fourth-quarter rally by the Conquistadors to advance to the championship game. The margin was within single digits, at 69-61, with 5:32 left after a 3-point field goal by Hermione Hicks. Things got even more interesting when a free throw by Kaylee Llanos closed the gap to three points, at 73-70, with 1:20 remaining and another free throw by the guard made it a two-point game, at 74-72, with 30 seconds on the clock. However, Allie Greene made four free throws down the stretch to seal the semifinal victory.
Tierzah Penn scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Fightin' Indians offense, which benefitted from 51 rebounds. Ivy Fox played a big role in the team's attack with 20 points and 15 rebounds while Jayla Flient came off the bench to collect 11 points and 10 rebounds.
Llanos had 19 points to pace four double-digit scorers for Florida National (12-14). Hicks followed with 18 points and Valeria Cifuentes and Maria De Gracia each had 11 points in the game.
Semifinal 2: No. 1 Georgia Gwinnett College 73, No. 4 Washington Adventist University 54
Three 3-point field goals and two free throws by the Grizzlies (20-6) in the first minute of the fourth quarter turned a tightly contested 11-point game, at 46-35, into a comfortable 22-point advantage, at 57-35, for the tournament hosts. Peyton Hearvey was particularly effective from beyond the 3-point arc, making two straight baskets. Christen Collins added another 3-pointer and two free throws during the offensive stretch. The Shock (15-9) could get no closer than 14 points the rest of the way.
That was quite a contrast from the high-spirited first half as Washington Adventist enjoyed an early nine-point edge, at 16-7, following a jump shot from Tye Queen. The visitors held onto the lead until Collins made a fastbreak layup to give GGC a 21-20 edge with 4:01 left in the second quarter.
The two teams were deadlocked at 25-25 by the halftime break.
The back-and-forth action continued in the early stages of the second half before the Grizzlies finally broke through with a combination of stifling defensive pressure, pinpoint outside shooting, and fast-break offensive opportunities. The team turned 20 turnovers into 18 points, most coming in the second half.
Jamya Griffin led another balanced scoring effort for GGC with a game-high 18 points, while Collins had 16 and Hervey added 12. Maddie Presha (16) and Nylaa Fuller (13) had 29 of the team's 52 rebounds in the game.
Isabela Lujan-Gonzalez had 16 points to lead the Shock, while Heather Middleton had a double-double with 10 points and 12 rebounds. Litzy Lujan-Gonzalez had a team-high 12 reb