Southeastern Game Notes
Cornerstone Game Notes
SIOUX CITY, Iowa—The Southeastern University women's basketball team has been to the NAIA Division II National Championship tournament in each of the last three seasons.
This year is a little different.
Southeastern is the top overall seed in the 32-team field, which begins play on Wednesday at the Tyson Events Center.
The three previous appearances, the Fire have been a relative unknown, coming from a conference that had never had a member institution win a game in the tournament.
That changed last season, when the Fire, the No. 2 seed in its eight-team bracket, picked up a win over Valley City State, then defeated perennial power Northwestern (Iowa) to advance to the national quarterfinals.
There will be no flying under the radar this time.
The last remaining unbeaten women's basketball squad in the NAIA has cruised to a 29-0 mark, posting an average margin of victory by 34.1 points per game. The Fire boast the top scoring defense at 50.9 points per game, and hold teams to just 29% from the field and 25% from 3-point range.
On the offensive side, the Fire are also at the top of the charts in field goal percentage at 51.3%, and are fifth in scoring at 85.1 points per game.
National Player of the Year candidate
Ana Richter is closing in on 1,000 points during her two seasons at Southeastern, having posted 676 this season, ranking second in NAIA Division II. The senior from Oxford, Ohio has had more success shooting than any player at her division, converting 68% of her shots. It's not just on the offensive end where Richter is a force, she also has 87 steals, ranking in the Top 15 nationally, and has averaged over three offensive rebounds per game.
Outside shooting has been a key to success for the Fire, with
Jaycee Coe ranking seventh in 3-pointers per game at 3.25, and
Emma Karamovic converting at 42.3% from long range. As a team, the Fire are 38.8% from long range.
The road to the national championship for the top-ranked team isn't the smoothest one, which includes red-hot Cornerstone in the first round on Wednesday night.
The Golden Eagles were just two games over .500 in Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference play, but that didn't stop them from defeating Aquinas, No. 20 Lawrence Tech, and No. 9 Indiana Tech to win the conference tournament. The wins over Lawrence Tech and Indiana Tech were the fourth and fifth wins over ranked teams this year, seeing 10 Top 25 teams during the season.
Cornerstone is led by junior Jesse Sheridan, who averages 16.6 points per game, and has made 119 free throws this season. Senior Cass Vredevoogd has had five consecutive double-digit efforts down the stretch.
The game tips off at 6:15 p.m. Eastern Time, and can be viewed on the
NAIA Network. The winner advances to the Round of 16, playing either fifth-seeded Indiana Wesleyan or fourth-seeded Olivet Nazarene on Friday at 1 p.m. Eastern.
On campus, the games will be shown at Portico and in The Furnace lobby. Follow @SEUFireWBB on Twitter for in-game updates.
