Transylvania survives late comeback bid to advance to NCAA Elite Eight
The Transylvania University women’s basketball team withstood a furious fourth-quarter rally by Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday night to secure a 63-58 victory and advance to Saturday’s Elite Eight round of the NCAA Division III Tournament.
The Pioneers, the last remaining undefeated school in the original 64-team bracket, won for the 27th time in a row, setting up an NCAA quarterfinal matchup Saturday night in Lexington against Trine University of Angola, Ind. (27-3). Trine advanced Friday with a 58-49 victory over Springfield (Mass.).
Despite a snowstorm in Lexington, the Pioneers played in front of a nearly full house Friday night in the Clive M. Beck Center, which was also scheduled to host Saturday night’s game.
The Pioneers, who won their previous 26 games this season by an average of more than 25 points, took a seemingly comfortable 50-33 advantage into the fourth quarter Friday night. The Pioneers led 19-11 after one quarter and 35-21 at halftime.
The visitors from Belton, Texas, weren’t quite ready to call it a night though. After the Pioneers extended their lead to 52-33, the Crusaders (24-5) began chipping away. Transylvania went scoreless from the 7:03 to the 4:00 minute mark and Mary Hardin-Baylor scored nine unanswered points to trim the deficit to 55-48. A layup by Bethany McLeod brought the Crusaders within three at 61-58 with 38 seconds to play but Madison Kellione and Kennedi Staci each made a free throw to seal the victory.
Staci, a junior from Magoffin County, scored 19 points to lead the Pioneers, and also contributed eight rebounds and four assists. Kellione, a junior from Harrison County, added 17 points. Dasia Thornton, a junior from Cincinnati, finished with 15 points and 12 rebounds.
In addition to the Transylvania-Trine matchup on Saturday, three other NCAA quarterfinal matchups were to take place: Wisconsin-Whitewater at Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Trinity (Texas) at Amherst (Mass.) and Hope (Mich.) at NYU.