SIOUX CITY, Iowa—Through 14 of the 16 First Round games at the NAIA Division II Women's National Championship, three lower seeded teams have won.
Two of those are in the Liston Bracket, where top-seeded Southeastern and third-seeded Antelope Valley advanced to Friday's Second Round.
The Fire come in at 28-2, and will take on IU Northwest on Friday at 11:15 a.m. Eastern with the winner playing in the national quarterfinal on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Southeastern had five players in double figures, getting 20 points and 14 rebounds from
Marlena Schmidt, and 14 off the bench from fellow tournament veteran
Emma Karamovic.
Elsa Paulsson-Glantz (13) and
Makenzie Cann (17), along with freshman
Raegan Linster (11) joined them.
In the second half, the Fire buckled down defensively, limiting Alice Lloyd to a 29.6% success rate from the field in the second 20 minutes.
They will need another stellar defensive effort if they want to play on Saturday at the Tyson Events Center for the third straight year.
The Redhawks of IU Northwest check in with a 27-7 record out of the Association of Independent Institutions, and are playing in the second round for the first time in program history following an 86-72 win over Dordt.
Despite getting just five points from Michelle Borgen, who averages a team-best 17.3 points per game, fifth-year Grayce Roach had a career-high 36 points.
Roach ranks 10
th nationally with 162 assists, and averages just over 14 points per game.
Washington Adventist and College of the Ozarks are common opponents between the teams with the Fire 2-0 against that group, and IUN 1-2 with a pair of losses to Ozarks.
