Greenville Women's Squad Finishes Fourth at NCCAA Nationals

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Published on March 19 2018 1:14 pm
Last Updated on March 19 2018 1:14 pm

The Greenville University women's basketball team advanced in the winner's bracket and captured a 77-70 double overtime win against Southwestern Christian Wednesday in the quarterfinal round of the NCCAA national championships.  The victory gave head coach Roy Mulholland his 500th career win as a basketball coach spread between Greenville University (269 wins) and Greenville High School (231).

The No. 3 seeded Panthers slipped behind early in the game against the No. 6 Southwestern Christian squad when SCU led 6-2 in the opening minutes.

Greenville went on a 16-2 run to gain a 10 point lead, and they held a lead by 10 points on several occasions in the game.

The Panthers were on top 7-6 after the first quarter and pushed their lead to 23-14 at halftime.

Greenville maintained its nine point lead at 41-32 after three quarters, but Southwestern Christian outscored Greenville 20-11 in the fourth quarter.  SCU overcame a 47-34 lead by the Panthers in the final seven and a half minutes of regulation to send the game to overtime at 52-all.

SCU managed to take a two point lead late in the first overtime, but the resilent Panthers erased the deficit.  A bucket and converted free throw by Wesley Woodard gave the Panthers a 59-57 lead with less than 10 seconds to go.

However, Eliora Johnson, who played all 50 minutes of the game and scored 35 points for Southwestern Christian, made a game-tying basket with two tenths of a second to go to force the second extra period.

Greenville controlled the second overtime and received eight points from Morgan St. James in the period to take the win.

Meredith Crosier was Greenvile's leading scorer in the game with 20 points.  Woodard had 18 points, and Laura Goodnight added 11. Effingham graduate Jantzen Michael played 14 minutes for the winners and hit a three-pointer and had two rebounds.

Concordia 62, Greenville 55

The women's basketball team's postseason did not end Thursday, but their pursuit of a second consecutive NCCAA national championship ceased with a 62-55 loss to Concordia (Michigan) in the semifinals of the tournament.

The Panthers led after each of the first three quarters, but they were outscored 23-7 in the fourth quarter.  Greenville's nine-point lead at the end of the third quarter was the highest for either team in the game.

Concordia held the edge in most of the statistical categories with a higher field goal percentage, more three-pointers, and less turnovers than the Panthers.

Greenville's Morgan St. James continued a solid national tournament as leading scorer with 11 points and top rebounder with eight.

Laura Goodnight added 10 points to the Panthers total. Michael played 16 inutes and pulled down two rebounds.

Emmanuel 76, Greenville 65

The women's basketball team concluded their season with a fourth place finish at the NCCAA national tournament.  They lost to Emmanuel (Georgia) 76-65 after holding a lead in the fourth quarter.

The Panthers found themselves behind for the majority of the game, but their rally in the second half gave them a brief lead.

Greenville scored the first five points of the game and led during the first quarter.  Emmanuel charged back to take a 18-16 lead after the first quarter.

The first half ended with Greenville trailing by 10, 38-28.

In the third quarter, the Panthers outscored Emmanuel 24-17 to shave seven points off the lead.

Greenville took a 61-60 lead on Jantzen Michael's jumper with just under 5:30 to go.

Emmanuel wouldn't fade away and outdistanced themselves from Greenville with a 16-5 run to end the game.

Greenville's all-tournament player Laura Goodnight concluded her career with a 23 point performance to lead all scorers.  She ended her career with 1164 points in 97 games. Michael played 18 minutes, finishing with two of six from field goal range, one of those a three-pointer, and two of two at the line for seven points. She also had one steal, one assist and four rebounds.

The Panthers completed their season with a record of 22-8, a SLIAC regular season championship, their second straight NCCAA North Central regional title, and a third consecutive qualification for a season-ending national tournament (NCAA - 2016; NCCAA - 2016, 2017).  Their fourth place NCCAA performance is the second best in their NCCAA national tournament history.