SIOUX CITY, Iowa—One of these things is not like the other.
All four semifinalists in the 2019 NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championships are No. 1 seeds.
Three come from the Great Plains Athletic Conference, home to 13 of the last 18 red banners in women's basketball.
One comes from The Sun Conference, and is responsible for each of the seven wins the conference has ever had in the tournament, and is in the semifinal round for the first time in program history.
If the Fire are looking to spoil the party and become just the fourth non-GPA team to win the title, and the first from south of the 40
th parallel to win the championship, they'll have to get through the defending champions first.
Southeastern faces Dakota Wesleyan on Monday at 9:05 p.m. Eastern with the winner facing Concordia (Neb.) or Northwestern (Iowa) Tuesday night at 8:05 p.m.
Both teams have been equally impressive defensively over their last three games with the Tigers holding St. Thomas, St. Francis (Ill.), and Taylor to 66, 49, and 62, respectively. The Fire held Alice Lloyd to 57 and IU Northwest and Antelope Valley to 60 each.
The two teams met in last year's quarterfinal round with more than 1,600 fans watching the Tigers drain 15 3-pointers, and two players score better than 20 points in a 78-64 win over the Fire.
Three starters are back, but just four total players that scored in that game are still on the roster. Kynedi Cheeseman, a junior that is averaging a team-best 20 points per game this week, had 20 points last year, going 4-of-9 from 3-point land against the Fire.
Southeastern has used a balanced attack to go along with their sound defense this week. In three games, the Fire have had three different leading scorers.
Marlena Schmidt is the second-best field goal shooter remaining in the tournament at 68% this week, and is the top rebounder still in play at 10 per game.
At the top of SEU's zone defense,
Makenzie Cann and
Elsa Paulsson-Glantz have combined for 17 steals and helped the Fire go +4 in the turnover margin during the tournament.
"We just need to step up, use our length, and be quick to the ball and not let them get open in rhythm," said coach
Tim Hays.
Fans can watch the game online on ESPN3, or join fellow Fire fans at Portico to watch the game.
