#1 Marian tops #5 IU East in NAIA DII WBB national tourney second round
#1 Marian tops #5 IU East in NAIA DII WBB national tourney second round
By IU East Sports Information Box Score
SIOUX CITY, Iowa - A breakthrough season for the Indiana University East women's basketball team came to a bittersweet end in the second round of the national tournament.
IU East fell 96-69 against Marian University on March 10 in a Sweet 16 game at the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship at the Tyson Events Center.
The Red Wolves, the No. 5 seed in the tournament's "Cramer Bracket," finished 29-6. The top-seeded Knights, the reigning NAIA Division II national champions, are 32-3.
IU East finished the program's third NAIA season with a program record for wins, a repeat conference division title, a first conference tournament title and the program's first national tournament victory.
KEY MOMENTS
* Marian scored five seconds into the game en route to an 8-0 start and a 29-12 lead after one quarter.
* Marian scored the last four points of the second quarter, boosting its lead to 18 going into the break.
* The Knights ran off 11 points in a row midway through the third quarter to go ahead 70-39. Marian led by at least 23 the rest of the way.
SIGNIFICANT STATS
* Marian ran early and often, and finished with a 26-2 advantage in fast break points.
* IU East finished with a .362 field goal percentage. Marian posted a .563 mark.
* The Red Wolves lost on the second day of back-to-back games for the first time this season. IU East had been 3-0 in the second game of back-to-backs. The Red Wolves' first round win against Purdue University Northwest was March 9.
* Keragan Niehoff scored a season-high 18 points in her final game as a Red Wolf. Kristen Miller added 16.
* Jessica Almeida led five Marian players in double figures with 19 points.
NOTABLE QUOTABLE
"Thank you to everyone. It's been a blast, and I can't wait to come back and look at the program we all built.
"It was kind of scary, looking back at our freshmen year, with 13 freshmen coming in to a new program, not knowing what to expect. Just working hard every day, coming in a working as a team, doing it for each other - that's what got us here and that is what's going to keep us moving forward." - IU East's Keragan Niehoff
"Marian had effort. They came ready to play, they know how to play at this level, and we don't quite have that yet. For our third year, I'm pretty proud of where we've gotten, but we've got to keep learning that we've still got to take it to the next level.
"I am super proud of these girls. We've made huge headway. We are a lot further along than most people thought we would be. Hopefully getting to the Sweet 16 will make a statement that we're here, we're good, and we want to be spoken of with the elite." - IU East coach Tiffani Selhorst