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Posted by
Corey Westra
-
Sat, Mar 15, 2008
- [
Women's Basketball
] - Viewed 549 times
 Mustangs Win On Overturned Call With No Time on Clock
No. 1 seed Morningside (Iowa) survived a scare from the 2008 version of Cinderella, with an 87-86 victory in the quarterfinals of the17th annual NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship at the Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena in Sioux City, Iowa.
Morningside (33-3) looked to be cruising taking a 13 point lead into halftime 49-36, but then the seventh seed Minot State (21-11) found their groove and began to chip away at the Mustangs lead. Minot slowly but surely began to wear on Morningside taking the first ten minutes of the second half to cut the lead to single digits. The Beavers kicked it in high gear, trailing by nine with 3:42 remaining, Minot State went on an 11 to two run to tie the game at 82-82 with 2:03 remaining. Minot then picked up their first lead in the game with a runner in the lane by senior Kendra Meyer 84-82. Morningside Junior Dani Gass answered with a circus shot that found the bottom of the net while being fouled. Gass added the free throw to give the Mustangs the advantage with :50. The Beavers answered when Meyer again hit a runner in the lane while being fouled by J.J. Hall. Meyer though missed a free throw that would have put the Beavers up two, instead Minot's lead sat at 86-85.
Morningside set up their half court offense with :37, clearing the lane to allow Gass to drive to the hoop. Her layup would fall short but Meyer would be called for a foul to send Gass to the line. Gass a 79.6 percent free throw shooter on the season would sink both shots to give Morningside back the lead with:15. The Beavers quickly moved the ball up court and managed two close range shots that could not find their mark but caught a break with 1.6 seconds remaining and two Mustangs fought each other for a rebound and were called for traveling. After consecutive timeouts Minot set up their inbounds play from underneath their basket. The Beavers junior Lashay Bagsby's attempt rimmed out and Brittini Walker grabbed a rebound and appeared to have hit a game winning shot. The officials reviewed the tape and came to the conclusion that the buzzer had sounded and the game had ended before Walker's shot left her hand giving Morningside the 87-86 victory. Gass led the Mustangs with 22 points powered by 9-of-10 free throw shooting, while J.J. Hall added 18 points and Autmn Bartel contributed with 17 points for Morningside. Minot States Lashay Bagsby led all scorers with 30 points on 12-of-17 shooting from the field while Britini Walker added 18 points for the Beavers. Morningside advances to the semifinals to take on the winner Northwestern (Iowa) at 8:00 p.m. on Monday. This is the Mustangs first time in the semifinals since 2005 when they defeated Evangel (Mo.) 57-45 en route to the 2005 National Championship. Minot State ends the season in the quarterfinals matching their best finish in the NAIA Div. II National Tournament. Story from the NAIA, Picture from Chadd Goosman
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