Tonight's matchup between top seed and nationally third-ranked Ashland and third seed and No. 14 Drury in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional semifinals, at a glance ...
*THE MATCHUP:Â Nationally 14th-ranked Drury (25-4) will face No. 3 Ashland (31-1) Â at 7:30 p.m. (EST) in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional semifinals at Kates Gym in Ashland, Ohio.
*IN THE OTHER SEMIFINAL: Sixth-seeded Saginaw Valley State (22-8) will play seventh-seeded Grand Valley State (23-9) in the other semifinal at 5 p.m., with the two winners to advance to Monday night's title game at 7 p.m. SVSU and GVSU met last weekend in the semifinals of the GLIAC tourney, with Grand Valley winning 76-51 on the same floor in Ashland. The Lakers beat No. 2 seed Lewis 72-70 on Friday for GVSU's first NCAA tourney victory since 2005-06, while Saginaw Valley State - in its first NCAA post-season appearance in 23 years - knocked off third seed Bellarmine 69-58 on Friday.
*NEW FORMAT AN OMEN FOR DU?:Â The NCAA-II women's national championship game, for the first time, will be a part of the women's D-I Final Four and a 35th anniversary NCAA women's basketball championship celebration, with the D-II title game to be played at 3 p.m. on Monday, April 4 at Banker's Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, a day before the D-I championship contest. The NCAA D-III title tilt will tip off at 6 p.m. on April 4 at Banker's Life Fieldhouse. The Midwest Regional winner, along with seven other regional champions, will advance to Sioux Falls, South Dakota for the Elite Eight and Final Four, with the two survivors moving on to Indianapolis for the title game. The NCAA used a similiar format for its men's tournament in conjunction with the 75th anniversary of that championship - the year that the Drury Panthers won their only NCAA-II title by winning Eight Eight and Final Four games in Louisville, Ky., before defeating Metro State at Philips Arena in Atlanta, Ga., a week later for the championship as part of the men's D-I Final Four weekend.*RADIO/TV/INTERNET:Â The game can be heard on JOCK 98.7 FM and streamed live at www.radiospringfield.com. A free live webcast can be viewed at www.goashlandeagles.com, or by clicking the Live Video link below.
Midwest Regional Website | Live Audio | Live Video*ABOUT THE LADY PANTHERS: Coach Molly Miller's Lady Panthers survived and advanced with a 79-71 win over fifth-seeded Quincy on Friday night to emerge as the GLVC's only remaining team in the Midwest Regional field. DU trailed 13-6 early on, but went on a 13-3 run to finish the first quarter and lead 19-16 at the break. A 25-13 advantage in the second period gave the Lady Panthers a 44-29 halftime lead, and Drury would push that as high as 24 points before Quincy rallied to cut it to four late. But the Lady Panthers made their free throws down the stretch, including an 8-for-8 performance at the line by senior Annie Armstrong, to tuck away NCAA post-season victory No. 1 for Miller. Armstrong finished with 18 points to pace four Lady Panthers in double-figures, while Paige Wilson and Heather Harman added 11 each off the bench and Briana Jones had 10 points. Addy Roller had eight big first-half points and finished the game with six rebounds, six assists and two steals in her 25 minutes of action. Armstrong averages 15.7 points and Alice Heinzler adds 11.0 points to lead DU, which gets a team-leading 7.3 rebounds per game from Hannah Dressler.
*SCOUTING ASHLAND: The host Eagles nearly left their full house of purple-clad fans in disappointment and disbelieve before rallying to beat eight-seed Ursuline 72-70 on Friday evening on Andi Daugherty's layup with 1.7 seconds remaining. The victory pushed Ashland's home-court winning streak to 30 consecutive games at Kates Gymnasium. Daugherty, a 6-1 sophomore, finished with 24 points and 16 rebounds to lead Ashland to the victory over Ursuline, the GMAC champion. Laina Snyder, also a 6-1 sophomore, added 18 points and 15 rebounds as the Eagles outrebounded Ursuline 52-47 in the contest. Ashland comes into the game with a 10-game win streak, having captured both the GLIAC regular season and post-season tourney titles after hosting the latter. The Eagles entered the NCAA tourney ranked second nationally in assists per game (19.8), fourth in assist/turnover ratio (1.34) and seventh in FG percentage (.470). Their 18.3 points average margin of victory was 11th best in the country. Daugherty averages 15.9 points and Snyder adds 15.3 points per game to lead the Eagles of first-year head coach Robyn Fralick, who spent seven seasons as an assistant coach for the Eagles before replacing Ashland coaching great Sue Ramsey when she retired after last season. Snyder pulls down 9.3 rebounds and Daugherty adds 7.7 per game. *THE SERIES: This will be the first-ever meeting between Drury and Ashland.
*MILLER TIME: The 25-4 start has pushed DU coach Molly Miller's record to 51-8 in two seasons - best after 59 games in the program's history - as the former Lady Panthers standout herself has made a smooth transition to the head coaching ranks. That includes a 26-1 record in games at the O'Reilly Family Event Center, where their only loss under Miller's watch was a 78-73 decision to Pittsburg State on the second day of the 2014 Thanksgiving Classic (and where they are currently riding a streak of 25 consecutive victories, a new DU program record).Â
*QUICKIES:Â Ashland is now 15-4 all-time in NCAA tourney games, the best winning percentage in tournament history. Â The Eagles finished 37-1 and won the NCAA-II national title in 2012-13, the same year the Drury men captured their championship. ... Ashland was also NCAA-II national runner-up in 2011-12. .. Drury has placed at least three players in double-figures in 16 consecutive games. ... Junior reserve guard Paige Wilson went 4 of 6 from the field last night and now has hit 30 of her last 42 shots (71 percent) over the last nine games. She's made 18 of her last 23 3-point tries (78 percent) over a 12-game span. ... After limiting Quincy to 39-percent shooting Friday, the Lady Panthers have held 14 of their last 15 opponents below 41 percent FG shooting. ... Of DU's nine available players, all nine have scored in double-figures at least five times each this season, and all but Wilson had led the Lady Panthers in scoring in at least one game this season. ... Drury is 9-0 when it outrebounds its opponent this season. ... After making 11 treys last night, Drury has now made five or more 3-pointers in 17 consecutive games. It was the 13th time the Lady Panthers, who lead the nation in 3-point FG percentage, have made 10 or more treys in a game this season. ... Ashland's lone loss this season was a 69-58 decision at Walsh on January 14, when the Eagles shot just 32 percent for the game (21 of 64), including a 3-for-19 showing (18 percent) from 3-point range. Walsh outrebounded Ashland 38-37 and held Daugherty and Snyder to 13 and 11 points, respectively, in that contest. ...Â
*ARMSTRONG CLIMBING CHARTS: Armstrong now has 1,147 points in her three seasons with the Lady Panthers after the Springfield Kickapoo HS product transferred back home from Eckerd (Fla.) College, and has moved into 11th place on the DU all-time scoring charts.. She needs 35 points to move past Melanie Oliver (1,181 from 2007-10) and crack the Top 10. Armstrong scored 241 points in her lone season at Eckerd, meaning she's scored 1,388 points in her four collegiate seasons of basketball. After making 34 of 39 free throws (.872 percent) at Eckerd as a freshman, Armstrong has made 236 of 251 free-throw tries (93 percent) in her three seasons at DU, including a nation-best .956 last season (87 of 91) and 97 of 104 this season. Armstrong has made 155 3-pointers in her DU career and needs two to pass Allison Regier (156 from 2003-06) for seventh place and three to move past Magen Brunson (157 from 2000-04) and into sixth place.
Â
