By: Scott DCamp, Northland Communications
Rochester, Minn., March 16 -
The Northland Community & Technical College Women's Basketball Team bounced back from Friday night semifinal loss to Minnesota West with a 79-64 win over Dallas College - Cedar Valley in the third place game of the 2024 NJCAA Women's Basketball National Championship, Saturday afternoon at the Rochester Regional Sports Center.
The Pioneers trailed 6-2 early in the first quarter but regained the lead with a 7-0 run. The Suns answered with a 7-2 run of their own to go in front 13-11 with 4:03 remaining in the quarter. The teams effectively traded scores for the remainder of the quarter, with the suns holding a 19-17 advantage at the buzzer.
The Pioneers allowed four points in the first 1:11 of the second quarter to go down 23-17, before finishing the quarter on a prolonged 21-8 scoring run.
The Pioneers led 38-31 at the half, and broke the game open in the third quarter with a 22-7 scoring advantage over the Suns.
Saturday's game was the fourth in four days for both teams, and both teams showed their fatigue at times. For the Pioneers, fatigue didn't really set in until the fourth quarter. They led 60-38 with 10 minutes left to play, but appeared to wear down against an athletic Suns team in the fourth. The Suns opened the quarter on a 6-0 run to get within 16 of the Pioneers. A pair of free throws by
Emma Osborn and a bucket by
Ashley Gereau temporarily pushed the lead back to 20 points.
An 11-3 run by the Suns cut the Pioneers' lead to 12, 67-55, with 5:45 remaining. A made free throw and layup by
Riley Mooney pushed the lead back to 15 points. The Suns had one more run in them, a 7-2 run, that made the score 72-62 with 2:32 remaining, but they weren't able to draw any closer as the Pioneers went five-for-five at the line to finish out the game.
Saturday's game was the final game in a Northland uniform for Osborn, Mooney, Gereau,
Shavonda Bender,
Lynelle Charnoski and
Sunny Edin. Osborn led the way with 22 points, including six three-pointers. Freshman
Tiyana Schwinghammer scored 21 points and seven rebounds. Freshman
Josie Iverson scored nine points while leading the team with 12 assists.
Tournament Awards
The Pioneers received the sportsmanship award following the tournament. In an email to Athletic Director Abdul Chamma, Public Address Announcer Steve Cole stated: "I am writing to commend your women's basketball team on receiving the Sportsmanship Award at the tourney. I had a front-row seat to their games and was impressed on how your women's basketball coaches and players all demonstrated sportsmanship throughout the tourney.
You have a great coaching staff and they played very well and more importantly showed great sportsmanship."
Also receiving post-tournament recognition were Iverson and Schwinghammer, who were named to the All-Tournament Team. Iverson averaged 9.25 points and 7 assists per game over the course of the tournament, while Schwinghammer averaged 18.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game.
6) Dallas College - Cedar Valley vs. (5) Northland
March 16, 2024
(19-7)
64
(25-6)
79
Box Score
(6) Dallas College - Cedar Valley
| PLAYER |
MIN |
FGM-A |
3PM-A |
FTM-A |
OREB |
DREB |
REB |
AST |
STL |
BLK |
TO |
PF |
PTS |
| STARTERS |
|
| 0 - Deja Thomas |
40 |
6-15 |
1-3 |
3-9 |
0 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
16 |
| 1 - Carmela Hayden |
38 |
7-20 |
1-7 |
2-3 |
4 |
3 |
7 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
4 |
17 |
| 3 - Mia Thomas |
24 |
3-6 |
1-3 |
3-3 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
10 |
| 4 - Taylor Elam |
26 |
3-5 |
0-0 |
2-2 |
2 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
8 |
| 10 - Vivian Nwabufo |
17 |
0-2 |
0-0 |
2-2 |
5 |
2 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
| RESERVES |
|
| 5 - Kyra Lee |
4 |
0-1 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| 12 - Tori Ransom |
7 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
| 14 - Tyla Harper |
4 |
0-1 |
0-1 |
0-0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| 21 - Nekayla Williams |
9 |
2-4 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
| 23 - Keely Burks |
21 |
3-7 |
1-3 |
0-0 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
7 |
| 24 - Ciarrah Golden |
2 |
0-2 |
0-1 |
0-0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| 25 - Ciana Fudzie |
10 |
0-1 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| 45 - Courtney McIntyre |
0 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0-0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| TM - Team |
|
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
|
| TOTALS |
|
24-64 |
4-18 |
12-19 |
16 |
13 |
29 |
12 |
15 |
2 |
15 |
25 |
64 |
|
|
37.5% |
22.2% |
63.2% |
|
Game Information
| Date/Time: |
March 16, 2024 - 2:00 PM |
| Location: |
RCTC Fieldhouse, Rochester, MN |
| Technical fouls: |
(6) Dallas College - Cedar Valley-1 ( Deja Thomas) ; (5) Northland-None . |
