SLIAC Women’s Basketball Recap

Source: Brittany Lopez

A few weekends ago, the small town of Greenville, IL was home to the SLIAC Women’s Basketball tournament. The top four teams in the conference solidified their spot and were invited to the tournament hosted by the Greenville University Women’s basketball team. The hard work of Webster University(4), Westminster College (3), Spalding University (2), and Greenville University (1) earned them all the opportunity to compete for the title of SLIAC champions.

All teams have instilled determination and confidence, along with nonstop effort in order to hit this amazing stepping stone this season.

Webster University ended the season 17-9, while going 10-6 in conference play. Webster is coached by Jordan Olafson; he is the all-time women’s basketball leader in total wins at 150. Westminster College finished the season 19-7 while holding a solid 12-4 in conference play. Westminster is coached by James Arnold, who is only in his second year at Westminster. Arnold improved the teams’ overall record from the 2016-2017, focusing on changing the culture of the team. Spalding University ended the season at a remarkable 20-7 while going 14-2 in conference play. Spalding is coached by Charlie Just. Coach Just received SLIAC Coach of the Year honors during the first round of tournament action.

Last but not least, Greenville University ended their season 23-4 while going outstanding in the conference with a record of 15-1. Greenville is coached by Roy Mulholland and over the past years, Mulholland has picked up his three hundredth, four hundredth, and five hundredth win at GU and is currently in second with total career wins here at Greenville!

The first round of the conference play for GU was a battle against Webster University. This was the third time these two powerhouses squared off against each other this year. Greenville jumped off to an early first quarter lead ending the quarter 21-12. The second period was a series of both teams trading back to back baskets and going into halftime Greenville was leading 36-23. Webster came out in the second half with a sense of urgency, looking to cut into the deficit. They successfully went on a scoring run, cutting the lead to only seven going into the last period. At 1:32 left to go Webster took the lead and ended up going up by 3 with 53 seconds remaining.

Shortly after, Greenville’s very own Megan Barrett hit a clutch three-pointer in the game sending the game to overtime. Morgan St. James was the hero of overtime hitting tough layups. Her outstanding effort on the defensive side wasn’t overlooked. In overtime, Greenville scored only 7 points but it was enough to surpass the Gorloks, sending them to the championship round.

In the championship game, Greenville faced the number two seed Spalding. Spalding took advantage of the defense of Greenville having a lead of 13-8 at the first timeout. Greenville put on a solid push going for 11 unanswered points to end the first period. At halftime, Greenville leads 34-31. As the third period began, Spalding tied the score at 42 with 4:30 remaining and going to score enough buckets to be up by just two after three periods of play. As the fourth period starts both teams trade important baskets, Jantzen Michael hit back to back clutch free throws giving them the lead when they needed it the most. Greenville pulled out the win with a final score of 72-66.

The all-tournament team included: Morgan St. James, Megan Barrett, and Wesley Woodard all from Greenville, as well as Allison Just and Hunter Wright from Spalding, Addison Beussink from Webster, and finally Kendahl Adams from Westminster.

Coach Mo and the Panthers begin to celebrate after the win over Spalding University!
Source: Darrin Stewart

Media by Brittany Lopez.

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