Joplin, MO – The Grace women's basketball team defeated #6 seed Bob Jones University 72-63 Wednesday night in the NCCAA DII Elite Eight, earning themselves a spot in Friday evening's Final Four against #2 seed Maranatha Baptist University.
After falling behind by 18-14 after one quarter of play, the Tigers went on a huge surge in the second quarter, outscoring the Bruins 26-10 and taking a 40-28 lead into the halftime break.
The Tigers switched things up a little bit on the defensive end in the third quarter, as they ramped up with some full-court pressure and it worked to their advantage as they extended their lead to as many as 19 points. The Bruins finished the final two minutes of the third with a 9-0 run to trim the Tiger lead to 10 before a huge three point shot from senior
Megan Scholtens would stop the momentum and lift the Tiger lead to 60-47 heading into the fourth.
Bob Jones would cut the lead to seven in the fourth, but the Tigers would hold tightly to never allow the game to get within two possessions, resulting with the nine point victory.
Senior
Miranda Carlson led the Tigers with 25 points, knocking down 5-11 from beyond the arc. Sophomore
Ashley Hoek had 18 points on 9-10 shooting from the field. Sophomore
Bre Harris led the Tigers with 10 rebounds and Hoek had 8, as they out-rebounded the Bruins 37-28 on the game.
Head Coach C.B. Long spoke after the game.
"It was a brand new experience for us and no one has ever played in this big of a game before, yet we played as if we were there just last week. I'm proud of our ladies and their courage. Miranda had a huge night for us. A senior who left it on the floor.
Ashley Hoek did that too. But the courage and heart of point guard
Bre Harris is the one who was our warrior tonight. I'm so thankful for all 15 ladies and their roles at every step of the journey."
Grace now heads into the NCCAA Final Four for the third time in program history, which will take place at 6:00 pm on Friday evening.
