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TOPEKA —
TOPEKA — Free throw shooting and defense.
The Pittsburg State women shot 20 of 26 at the foul line, 76.9 percent.
Northeastern State managed 18-56 on its field goals, 32.1 percent.
Pitt State defeated Northeastern State 68-54 Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament and now advance to the first Sweet Sixteen and regional final in the history of the Pitt State women's basketball program.
"We're just excited," Pitt State head coach Lane Lord said. "Sweet Sixteen . . . that's really all we talked about (after the game). They want to go eat ice cream. We're going to go eat ice cream."
Pitt State (26-5) will play Emporia State (23-8) Monday night at Lee Arena. The Hornets pulled off a mild shocker against host Washburn (29-5) on Saturday with a 71-65 win. Jocelyn Cummings, MIAA Defensive Player of the Year, showed her offensive acumen by scoring a game-high 27 points.
Northeastern State made its last field goal of the first half on a Tosha Tyler 3-point shot, missing its final nine shots the final 6:12 before halftime. That 3-pointer put Northeastern behind 20-19 and the RiverHawks only scored two more points on a pair of Taylor Lewis free throws, down 30-21 at halftime.
"Northeastern State's one of the toughest teams to play against because of their motion offense," Lord said. "It's a back screen, a fade screen, a down screen, a double screen and it's every single possession, they're going to hit you with as many screens as they can. You've got to credit our kids. They really executed our game plan and did a great job of getting through all that and also rebounding."
Lewis drove past her defender and she tried about a 10-foot jumper over long arms of the law Larissa Richards (PSU's all-time leading shot blocker); Richards, Lord and the Pitt State fans in attendance thought Richards had all ball on Lewis but the referee thought otherwise and whistled Richards for her second personal. Lord performed a little dance of bewilderment on the sideline before an agree to disagree conversation with the referee who called the foul. Lewis' two foul shots were the only Northeastern points for a long stretch of the game.
Sarah Green and Lewis thawed out Northeastern with 3-point shots early in the second half but Pitt State gained its first double-digit lead on a pair of Lizzy Jeronimus free throws with 16:44 left in the contest.
TOPEKA — Free throw shooting and defense.
The Pittsburg State women shot 20 of 26 at the foul line, 76.9 percent.
Northeastern State managed 18-56 on its field goals, 32.1 percent.
Pitt State defeated Northeastern State 68-54 Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Division II Tournament and now advance to the first Sweet Sixteen and regional final in the history of the Pitt State women's basketball program.
"We're just excited," Pitt State head coach Lane Lord said. "Sweet Sixteen . . . that's really all we talked about (after the game). They want to go eat ice cream. We're going to go eat ice cream."
Pitt State (26-5) will play Emporia State (23-8) Monday night at Lee Arena. The Hornets pulled off a mild shocker against host Washburn (29-5) on Saturday with a 71-65 win. Jocelyn Cummings, MIAA Defensive Player of the Year, showed her offensive acumen by scoring a game-high 27 points.
Northeastern State made its last field goal of the first half on a Tosha Tyler 3-point shot, missing its final nine shots the final 6:12 before halftime. That 3-pointer put Northeastern behind 20-19 and the RiverHawks only scored two more points on a pair of Taylor Lewis free throws, down 30-21 at halftime.
"Northeastern State's one of the toughest teams to play against because of their motion offense," Lord said. "It's a back screen, a fade screen, a down screen, a double screen and it's every single possession, they're going to hit you with as many screens as they can. You've got to credit our kids. They really executed our game plan and did a great job of getting through all that and also rebounding."
Lewis drove past her defender and she tried about a 10-foot jumper over long arms of the law Larissa Richards (PSU's all-time leading shot blocker); Richards, Lord and the Pitt State fans in attendance thought Richards had all ball on Lewis but the referee thought otherwise and whistled Richards for her second personal. Lord performed a little dance of bewilderment on the sideline before an agree to disagree conversation with the referee who called the foul. Lewis' two foul shots were the only Northeastern points for a long stretch of the game.
Sarah Green and Lewis thawed out Northeastern with 3-point shots early in the second half but Pitt State gained its first double-digit lead on a pair of Lizzy Jeronimus free throws with 16:44 left in the contest.
Richards extended the lead to 41-27 on two free throws and a short jumper. The 6-foot-3 senior from Great Bend finished with 15 points and seven rebounds; despite that call on the block attempt of Lewis, Richards avoided serious foul trouble.
"Yes and even this last game we played them, I had three offensive fouls," Richards said if she was conscientious about no foul trouble curtailing her minutes. "So when I posted up, I have to keep my block and keep my stance and not move."
Some good fortune smiled on the RiverHawks — Katy Harsen banked in a 3 and Cristy Nitz benefited from a friendly roll on her 3 but Jeronimus answered Nitz on the other end with an old-fashioned three-point play and 50-39 lead.
Every time Northeastern scratched the surface of a scoring run, Pitt State had an answer that denied any RiverHawk rally. For example, consecutive 3-pointers by Drew Roberts and Alexa Bordewick gave Pitt State a 56-41 lead after Northeastern seemed to have been locked in on the bottom of the net.
"If we just play as a team, we feed off each other," Roberts said. "I think if Larissa's on her game, we feed off of her. It's awesome whenever she's doing great and when me and Lexa hit those big threes, I think that was great for us. I told everyone, 'Don't be content.'"
Bordewick, a Topeka native, made her third 3 of the game and two Jeronimus continued a scoring run and gave Pitt State its first 20-point lead, 61-41.
There was no hint of any second-half collapse on Saturday.
"We didn't even talk about the score," Lord said of the conversation at halftime. "We made that mistake (Friday). We just tried to refocus about what we need to do on the defensive end and we never said a word about it. We had a focused group in the second half."
Jeronimus led all players with 17 points and Roberts added 16. Bordewick scored her nine points all on 3-pointers and freshman Hailey Roderique continued her solid NCAA Tournament play, adding four points, two rebounds and three assists.
"In this time of the year, there's always somebody that steps up big," Lord said. "Hailey's been solid all year long. Unfortunately, we've had three seniors ahead of her or five seniors . . . how many seniors do we have . . . five seniors but at her position we have three guards and she just buys her time and buys her time. We just really needed her. She's kind of our glue right now on the defensive end, she just gets every loose ball and she hustles. Her genetics are pretty good . . . obviously, she's a winner and we trust her in those situations."
Richards and the other four PSU seniors earn at least one more game.
"Being a senior, you never know when it's your last game," Richards said. "You've just got to give it your all all the time."
"She was supposed to throw in the indoor shot put national championship," Lord added. "She qualified for that, I think she practiced three times and had a qualifying mark in the conference tournament. She was supposed to throw this morning, so obviously she wanted to win so she wasn't able to take that flight last night."
Northeastern State ends its season 25-5 with two losses coming to Pitt State.
No. 14 GORILLAS 68, No. 11 RIVERHAWKS 54
PITTSBURG STATE (68) — Lizzy Jeronimus 4-6 9-9 17, Drew Roberts 6-16 1-2 16, Larissa Richards 5-6 5-6 15, Alexa Bordewick 3-7 0-0 9, Hailey Roderique 2-4 0-1 4, Lauren Brown 1-2 1-2 4, Brooke Conley 0-2 2-2 2, Courtney Tate 0-1 2-2 2, Morgan Westhoff 0-1 0-0 0, Amanda Orloske 0-1 0-0 0, Brigit Hesser 0-1 0-0 0, Lisa Elmer 0-0 0-2 0, Kristina Willis 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-47 20-26 68.
NORTHEASTERN STATE (54) — Cristy Nitz 5-9 3-4 14, Taylor Lewis 4-11 4-4 13, Katy Harsen 3-7 0-0 8, Sarah Green 1-6 3-4 6, Tosha Tyler 2-10 0-0 6, Taylor Collins 1-1 0-0 3, Chelsey Stricklen 1-2 0-0 2, Megan Fraley 1-5 0-0 2, Jasmine Wright 0-4 0-2 0, Carrington Fox 0-1 0-0 0, Fontana Tate 0-0 0-0 0, Kendra Kok 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 18-56 10-14 54.
Halftime — PSU 30, NESU 21. 3-point goals — PSU 6-17 (Bordewick 3-5, Roberts 3-7, Roderique 0-2, Conley 0-1, Orloske 0-1), NESU 8-31 (Harsen 2-5, Tyler 2-6, Collins 1-1, Nitz 1-3, Green 1-4, Lewis 1-6, Fraley 0-3, Wright 0-3). Rebounds — PSU 39 (Richards 7), NESU 29 (Green 5). Assists — PSU 9 (Jeronimus, Roderique 3), NESU 10 (Fraley, Wright 3). Turnovers — PSU 15, NESU 9. Steals — PSU 3, NESU 6. Blocked shots — PSU 2, NESU 2. Personal fouls — PSU 15, NESU 19. Fouled out — none. Technical fouls — none. Attendance — 1,200.
