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Box Score 2 Louisville, KY – For the second straight season, both the Grace Christian University men's and women's basketball teams have successfully secured the Mideast Regional Championship banner and will be headed to Joplin, MO for the NCCAA DII National Tournament.
The women started things off with a dominant performance against Campbellsville-Harrodsburg – a team that recorded the only NCCAA DII win against the Tigers earlier this season.
Bre VanVleet led the way in a 96-70 victory, scoring a career-high 31 points for Grace. On the defensive end, a newly implemented zone helped hold CU-Harrodsburg in check – slowing down Pioneers leading scorer Oriona Woods.
Head Coach Ashley Xiong Vang on the Championship victory:
"I believe that this was one of our best games we have played all year (both offensively and defensively) - we stayed the course followed our game plan defensively and made our shots and that's what pulled us through. I am so proud of our team for stepping up and adapting to changes on the fly. Bre had a phenomenal game with her career high at 31 points and 7 steals. She was just focused and dialed in and played like a regional mvp! Megan George also stepped up and scored 23 for us, Ash with a double double at 14 pts and 11 reb. Emily added 13 for us and Bailey at 11. Overall I am very happy with the way we have been playing and it's been some of the best basketball we have played so far. We are looking forward to nationals and just blessed to even have the opportunity to attend the tournament. It's going to be a long journey but I believe we have the right team to compete for a national championship!"
As for the men, after defeating #1 seed Johnson University-Tennessee on Friday night in the semis they knew it would be no easy feat to follow up with a win against #2 Great Lakes Christian College on Saturday in the final. A great team effort for 40 minutes in a very hard fought game resulted in a win that came down to the final possession with the Crusaders – a team that defeated the Tigers twice in the regular season.
Chandler Rivers led the Tigers with 24 points, and
Kellum Bridgeforth flirted with a triple-double with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and 9 assists.
Head Coach Gary Bailey on the Championship win:
"At the beginning of the season we were very optimistic. We felt like we would have a team that could make some noise in the region and hopefully nationally. We lost 10 players throughout the season for various reasons most ranging from COVID-19 things. We had a two players at the break, and lost one of them. It has been a very trying year for the guys with all of the changes. We went almost 2 months without practicing or playing games due to Covid. The guys that worked really hard and come together in an unbelievable way the last few weeks. It has been really fun to watch the maturity of this team continue to grow and change."
2021 National Tournament Seeding
It was announced on Sunday that both teams will be the #4 seed in their respective brackets, with the men starting things off on Wednesday, March 10, at 2:00 pm against #5 Arlington Baptist University and the women taking on #5 Maranatha Baptist University at 2:00 pm on Thursday, March 11.
