No. 6 Montana State-Northern Upsets No. 3 Columbia (Mo.), 56-55
Mar 20, 2014
FRANKFORT, Ky. – (Box Score) It took eight seasons, but Montana State University Northern is back in the NAIA Division I Women’s Basketball Championships and repeated history, upsetting a No. 3 seed in the opening round. The sixth-seeded Skylights rallied in the final three minutes to push past Columbia College (Mo.), 56-55.
MSUN (22-9) will face the winner either Langston (Okla.) or defending national champ Westmont (Calif.) on Friday at 12:30 p.m. EDT.
Trailing 55-51, A’Jha Edwards hit a basket with 2:43 to play, and Taylor Cummings followed a minute later to tie the game at 55. Rachelle Bennett hit 1-of-2 free throws with 14 seconds left to take the lead and held off the Cougars on a last-second shot by Heather English to secure the victory.
Montana State-Northern battled through foul trouble in the game with three main players finishing the game with four fouls.
The Skylights led for most of the first half until Corri Hamilton hit a free throw to tie it for Columbia, 12-12, with 8:33 remaining in the first half. Edwards hit a 3 gave MSUN another brief lead, 15-12, but Petrolina Chilaka gave CC its first lead with 6:29 to play, 16-15 as part of an 8-0 run.
The Cougars (26-8) held off the Skylights for the remainder of the half to enter the break with a 26-23 lead.
Montana State-Northern regained its lead 2:30 into the second half on another basket by Edwards, who finished the night with 17 points and 12 rebounds. However, both teams continued to swap leads for the next seven minutes. Columbia managed to maintain a two-to-three-possession lead the remainder of the way until the final seconds.
Janairrika Bland and Kayla Washington led Columbia with 12 and 10 points, respectively. English and Ashley Fisher each had nine. Kacie McKeon followed Edwards’ lead for MSUN with 14 points.
The loss is Columbia’s fifth-straight in the NAIA Championships opening round.
MSUN (22-9) will face the winner either Langston (Okla.) or defending national champ Westmont (Calif.) on Friday at 12:30 p.m. EDT.
Trailing 55-51, A’Jha Edwards hit a basket with 2:43 to play, and Taylor Cummings followed a minute later to tie the game at 55. Rachelle Bennett hit 1-of-2 free throws with 14 seconds left to take the lead and held off the Cougars on a last-second shot by Heather English to secure the victory.
Montana State-Northern battled through foul trouble in the game with three main players finishing the game with four fouls.
The Skylights led for most of the first half until Corri Hamilton hit a free throw to tie it for Columbia, 12-12, with 8:33 remaining in the first half. Edwards hit a 3 gave MSUN another brief lead, 15-12, but Petrolina Chilaka gave CC its first lead with 6:29 to play, 16-15 as part of an 8-0 run.
The Cougars (26-8) held off the Skylights for the remainder of the half to enter the break with a 26-23 lead.
Montana State-Northern regained its lead 2:30 into the second half on another basket by Edwards, who finished the night with 17 points and 12 rebounds. However, both teams continued to swap leads for the next seven minutes. Columbia managed to maintain a two-to-three-possession lead the remainder of the way until the final seconds.
Janairrika Bland and Kayla Washington led Columbia with 12 and 10 points, respectively. English and Ashley Fisher each had nine. Kacie McKeon followed Edwards’ lead for MSUN with 14 points.
The loss is Columbia’s fifth-straight in the NAIA Championships opening round.
