March 14, 2006

SIOUX CITY, Iowa -Hastings College (Neb.) defeated College of the Ozarks (Mo.) 58-39 in the title game of the 15^th annual NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship. This marks the third national championship for the Broncos in five years and the sixth year a member of the Great Plains Athletic Conference has been crowned national champion.  The Broncos were back-to-back champions in 2002-2003.

 

It looked as if it would be a classic battle in the championship game early on as the teams battled to a 12 all tie 7:24 into the game. Hastings broke the game open with a 14-1 run, as they held Ozarks without a field goal for almost seven and a half minutes. Cara Painter kept the Cougars within striking distance, scoring seven points in the last 4:49 to pull within 30-23 at the break. Painter had twelve first half points and three blocked shots for the Lady Cougars. A first-team all-tournament selection, she finished the game with a double-double (19 points, 10 rebounds).

 

Ozarks cut the lead to five on the opening hoop of the second half by Allison Rader, but that would be as close as they would get, as Hastings opened a 13-point cushion with 10:09 remaining. The Bronco lead dipped into double digits only once the rest of the way as Janessa DeMuth drained a triple with 3:06 left to cut the lead to nine. The  Hastings lead kept piling up as they hit six free throws down the stretch.

 

Tournament Most Valuable Player Katie Dent set the record for most rebounds in a tournament, grabbing 13 on the night to finish with 67 for the tournament. In her tourney career accumulated 113 boards, good for fifth on the all-time list. Scoring wise for Hastings Lynnze Martinsen led the way with 15 points while Stacy Svoboda chipped in with a dozen. Martinsen was named first-team all-tournament while Svoboda earned second-team honors.

 

Megan Curry earned second-team tournament honors and was took home the tournament hustle award for Ozarks. The Lady Bobcats finish their season with a record of 33-2, winning 24 of their last 25 games to close out the season.

 

Hastings concludes their championship season with a record of 31-6. To reach the finals the Broncos defeated Judson 75-50, College of Saint Mary 70-51, Dakota State 55-41 and Northwestern 63-50.

 

For more information on the Division II Women's Basketball National Championship log on to www.naia.org.

 

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