Chelsey Muri and the Raiders take on St. Ambrose Wednesday night.
SOU Opens NAIA Tournament Wednesday vs. St. Ambrose
SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- Southern Oregon University and St. Ambrose University women's basketball teams appear to be an evenly matched as two teams could be. The Raiders and Queen Bees meet in the first round of the NAIA Division II Women's National Basketball Tournament this Wednesday night at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
The Raiders are making their 6th tournament appearance, having last been there in 2002-03 and lost to Univ of Sioux Falls, 83-82 in overtime in the first round. The Queen Bees are making their 7th tournament journey, having lost to #3 Otawa 67-57 in the first round last year.
The Teams:
SOU Raiders, 29-4 overall record. Ranked #18 in final NAIA Poll
St. Ambrose, 28-5 overall record. Ranked #15 in final NAIA Poll
SOU is seeded #5 in the tournament group, St. Ambrose is seeded #4
SOU was co-champion of the Cascade Conference regular season. St. Ambrose won the Midwest Collegiate Conference regular season title.
SOU won the Cascade Conference Tournament championship, while St. Ambrose won the Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament title.
The Coaches:
Coach Lynn Kennedy of SOU, (3rd season, 59-32), first national tournament team.
Coach Nathan Altenhofen, St. Ambrose, (1st year 28-5) first national tournament team.
Lynn Kennedy was named Cascade Conference Coach of the Year for 2007-08;
Nathan Altenhofen was named Midwest Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year for 2007-08.
Top Players:
Chelsey Muri, SOU, Senior, Monroe, Wash.
Cascade Conference Player of the Year. Ave 15.8
Jenny Clark, St. Ambrose, Soph. Cambridge, Ill.
Midwest Collegiate Conference Player of the Year, Ave 16.1
TEAM COMPARISONS SOU Raiders St. Ambrose Bees
Scoring per game 77.8 78.3
Defense per game 63.9 56.5
Scoring Margin + 13.9 + 21.8
Field Goal % 42.0% 43.8%
3 Pt FG % 34.9% 35.6%
Free Throw % 66.7% 68.9%
Rebounding Margin 45.9 37.2
INDIVIDUAL COMPARISON SOU Raiders St. Ambrose Bees
Scoring per game Chelsey Muri 15.8 Jenny Clark 16.1
3 pt FG % Rhiannon Dickison 36.3% Jenny Clark 40.4%
Free Throws Chelsey Muri 76.9% Jenny Clark 79.7%
Rebounds Jacki Speer 9.3 Ali Dolphin 6.7
Coach Lynn Kennedy says the winner will probably be the team that shoots the ball the best on Wednesday night. "We had a good week of practice and we're excited about representing our conference and school in the national tournament. Now, we just have to play our best and see what happens/"
St. Ambrose lives and dies by the three pointer. Jenny Clark and Casey Breitbach both set single season marks for most threes made in a season at 98 and 84 respectively. As a team the Queen Bees shot an amazing 778 three point field goals and made 277 of them. Compare that to the Raiders, who attempted nearly 250 fewer three point tries (542) and made 189 of them for 34.9%, while the Bees hit theirs at a 35.6% clip.
Both teams played well at home. SOU went undefeated (16-0) at McNeal Pavilion in 2007-08, while St. Ambrose had a (14-1) home record having lost only to #2 Morningside College back on November 3 at home.
PROBABLE STARTERS
SOU Raiders
#15 Chelsey Muri G 5'8 Sr. Monroe Wash
#22 Emily Brookins G 5'10 So Central Point, Ore
#24 Kellyn Cooper F 6'2 Jr. Corvallis, Ore
#32 Rhiannon Dickison G 5'8 Jr. Redding, Calif
#44 Jacki Speer C 6'1 So. Centralia, Wash
St. Ambrose Queen Bees
#3 Whitney Rumbold G 5'6 Fr Wyoming. Ill
#12 Jenny Clark G 6'5 So Cambridge, Ill
#22 Ali Dolphin F 5'7 Fr Marshalltown, Ia
#24 Mary Burmeister C 6'1 Fr Lost Nation, Ia
#40 Dara Widdop C 6'2 Jr Milan, Ill
This is not the first time SOU and St. Ambrose have played basketball against each other. In 2005-06, SOU Men defeated St. Ambrose 78-73 in the NAIA national tournament at Branson, Missouri in the first round. SOU went on to the Elite 8 before losing to Cedarville, OH.
The SOU Women have not won a national tournament game since defeating Husson (Maine) 81-60 in the first round in 1999 and are 5-5 in national games. The Bees have not won a national playoff game since beating Central Methodist (Missouri) 84-66 in the 2000 tournament. St. Ambrose is 5-7 overall in national games.
The winner of SOU-St Ambrose will probably meet #1 Morningside College (Iowa) Friday afternoon at 3:45 p.m. PT. Morningside (30-3) meets Berea (Ky) (20-11) right before SOU meets the Bees.