Box Score SIOUX CITY, IOWA—The first appearance in the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Tournament ended after an opening round loss to second-seeded Tennessee Wesleyan 62-45.
The game started out promising for the seventh-seeded Fire (25-7), hit five of their first six shots, taking an eight-point lead with 12:46 to go in the first half on a 3-pointer by Alyssa Ramos. With 8:35 left in the half, the Fire held a 21-13 advantage, thanks to a layup by Cassidy Block.
However, from that point to the halftime intermission, the Fire connected on just one of their 12 field goal attempts, and trailed 27-25 at the break.
Southeastern scored the first six points of the second 20 minutes to go up 31-27, but Tennessee Wesleyan (29-3) went on an 8-0 run to take a 35-31 lead with 15:23 left. A basket off of an inbound play by Hannah Demarest, followed by a 3-pointer by Carlie Newman gave the Fire a 36-35 advantage with 14:01 left.
The Bulldogs answered with a 7-0 run to take the lead for good, and never led by less than five the rest of the night.
Ramos led all scorers with 14 points, and dished out three assists. Newman was also in double figures, scoring 13 points, and grabbing eight rebounds. Emma Loucks was the squad's leading rebounder with nine.
