SIOUX CITY, Iowa—A gritty 40-minute effort by Southeastern earned it a trip to the national semifinal after knocking off four-time champion Morningside to win the Naismith Quadrant.
The Fire connected on 45% of their shots and went 43% from 3-point range to come away with an 84-79 win.
Despite a rough day on Thursday shooting, the Fire came out strong in the first quarter connecting on 6-of-10 3-point attempts in the first quarter to take a 24-18 lead after 10 minutes of play.
Marta Aranda jump started the offense by knocking down four of five 3-pointers in the first quarter. She also had a team-high three rebounds in the first stanza.
"We know we are shooters and Thursday was a bad day," said Aranda. "We came and did what we knew we could today."
Gabby Suarez connected on a 3-pointer with 6:46 left in the second quarter to give SEU its biggest lead of the first half at 31-21. The Mustangs went on a 15-2 run coming out of a timeout to regain the lead. Three-pointers by Suarez and Reagan Linster gave the Fire a 39-36 lead with 79 seconds left in the half and held a 41-40 lead at the break.
"Once one of us makes our first one, then we all hit," said Suarez, who finished with 12 points, a team-high six assists, three rebounds and a steal.
In the second half, it was the inside game that started to take over for the Fire namely with
Angela Perry going for seven of her team-high 19 points in the third and had a block and an assist in playing seven of the 10 minutes of the period.
The quarter ended on a 6-1 Fire run to give SEU a 65-58 lead entering the fourth. The run ballooned to 13-1 after the Fire scored the first seven of the fourth quarter to take a 14-point lead and made it 16 at the 5:28 mark on Suarez's fourth 3-pointer of the game.
Morningside (30-6) rallied right back with a 15-2 run, connecting on four of five 3-point attempts over a 2:59 span.
"I'm proud of our girls for matching the physicality and matching the moment and being ready for that," said coach
Tim Hays. "I don't think they were rattled; I think there were a couple of bad decisions made which aids a run like that. I don't think rattled because they also responded."
Perry's turnaround jumper in the lane was the response the Fire needed with 1:40 to go to help calm the crowd and stop the run.
Linster added 15 points, connecting on 4-of-8 from 3-point land.
Rebecca Cook matched Perry for the team lead in rebounds with seven.
Sierra Mitchell led the way for Morningside with a game-high 27 points and was responsible for seven of the Mustangs' 16 3-pointers in the game.
The Fire will meet either fifth-seeded Dordt or second-seeded The Master's from the Cramer Quadrant on Monday at 7 p.m. Eastern in the national semifinal.
