FORT WAYNE, Ind. -- Now for a little R & R for the University of Saint Francis women's basketball team.
The Lady Cougars have certainly earned some time to heal, to relax, to savor a 78-62 win over a very physical Marian University team that earned USF its ninth Mid-Central College Conference Tournament Championship on Monday night.
Sophomore guard Kayla Mullins took over the second half for USF (23-10) scoring 27 of the Lady Cougars' 42 points. Mullins finished with 29 points while senior Bessie Jenkins notched her final double-double at Hutzell Athletic Center with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Junior Julie Seiss added 14 points, six assists and three steals.
USF broke away from the sixth tie of the game at 51 with 9:29 to play outscoring the valiant Knights 27-11 in the time remaining to extend its winning streak to seven. USF won its 16th game in its last 18 and improve to 22-5 against NAIA Division II opposition.
The Knights, playing their third straight road game in the tournament, their fourth straight including their final regular season game, finished 19-14 playing in their first MCC Tournament Championship game. MU, the No. 5 seed for the tournament, won at No. 4 Taylor 64-50, then shocked the MCC world winning at top-seeded Indiana Wesleyan 76-55 Friday night. The Knights had to win to advance to the 19th annual State Farm-NAIA Division II women's Basketball National Championship Tournament in Sioux City, Iowa, starting Wed., March 10.
"I played terrible and knew I had to step up big in the second half," Mullins said looking back at a two-point first half. "We've got a great team with a number of players capable of doin' what I did. My teammates got me the ball, I was in the right place at the right time for a big steal, score and foul, and we just wore 'em down. We've got a number of players on this team that could start on a lot of other teams and we just wear teams down."
Mullins, several of her teammates and USF coach Gary Andrews declared it was defense that made the difference.
"We made some stops, then executed on the offensive end," Seiss said.
"We rebounded much better in the second half, too," Andrews pointed out. "We held (Rachel) Kenney scoreless and that was huge. She score 19 against Indiana Wesleyan," and came into the game averaging 10.9 a game while shooting .548. On Monday night she went 0-for-3 and eventually fouled out.
Megan Egenolf led MU with 23 points. Emily Smithson had 12 and Rachel Turk 11.
"I wanted to get the championship for our seniors, Bessie Jenkins and Chelsea Joseph," Mullins said emphatically. "Best feeling in the world to be the best. We got a couple big stops and converted on the offensive end. They didn't allow that dribble penetration in the first half, but it seemed they were tired and we still had our quickness. Our depth is a great asset."
The Knights led several times by a point in the second half after trailing 36-32 at halftime.
USF secures the MCC's automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament with the win, its first NAIA berth since the 2006-07 season.
The Lady Cougars improved to 33-7 in MCC Tournament play, 9-3 in MCC Tournament championship games.
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