Story by Jake Knabel, NAIA Assistant Media Coordinator

SIOUX CITY, Iowa – In defense of its 2016 national title, No. 1-seeded Marian (Ind.) shook off an 8-0 deficit out of the gate and pushed its national tournament win streak to six. In a frenetically-paced affair, the Knights shot 54.0 percent from the floor while handling eighth-seeded Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), 105-92, in the first round of the 2017 NAIA Division II Women’s Basketball National Championships on Thursday afternoon.

Head coach Katie Gearlds’ squad has advanced to the second round of the Cramer Bracket, where it will play either fourth-seeded Purdue Northwest (Ind.) (24-8) or IU East (Ind.) (28-5) at 5:15 p.m. on Friday. Meanwhile, the Tigers, the last team into the field as an at-large qualifier, has its season end with an overall record of 20-12. 

A game pairing two up-tempo teams made for a high-possession game that featured more than 75 shot attempts on both sides. Six different Knights (31-3) reached double figures, topped by the 26 points by Ana Kirby, who also grabbed nine rebounds. Jessica Almeida piled up 19 points and eight rebounds. 

It was hardly a walk in the park for the Crossroads League regular-season champs. They trailed into the second quarter before building an 11-point (55-44) halftime lead. The advantage grew as large as 20 (93-73) before the Tigers made another push behind Jess Learned (26 points) and Maggie Schmidt (17 points). Olivet Nazarene got back within 10 with 2:48 left when Jae Taft nailed a trey. It was too little too late for a team that shot only 41.0 percent. Marian sewed up the contest by making 6-of-6 free throw attempts in the final minute. 

In addition to the score of Kirby and Almeida, Marian got double-digit outputs from Dejah Cyrus (15), Kellie Kirkhoff (13), Rachel Titzer (11) and Jenna Sullivan (10 points and 13 rebounds). Joana Soeiro dropped 10 dimes. 

Marian owned only one national championships win in school history before capturing the title last year. In the midst of their fourth appearance on the national stage, the Knights are 7-2 at the national tournament. On the flip side, Olivet Nazarene, steered by head coach Lauren Stamatis, is 4-6 in six trips to the national championships.