Senior Becky Buhler came off the bench to grab six rebounds, including the game-clincher with 0.1 seconds left in Corban's victory over Point Park Thursday in the opening round of the NAIA National Tournament.
Corban Gets Past Point Park, Advances to Second Round
BOX SCORE
SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Senior Becky Buhler grabbed a rebound and sank a free throw with 0.1 seconds remaining, as Corban's No. 10-ranked women's basketball team advanced to the second round of the 2012 State Farm-NAIA Division II National Tournament with a 60-58 victory over Point Park (Pa.) Thursday inside the Tyson Event Center.
"This is a pretty good win," said head coach Terry Williams. "Point Park was a good defensive team with superb offensive rebounders. Tonight's victory is even better, as the girls were able to get their first-time jitters out of the way."
With the win, Corban improves to 24-7 overall and grabs the first-ever national tournament victory in program history. The Warriors will move to the second round and will take on No. 7-ranked Grand View (Iowa) tomorrow – Friday, March 9th – at 6:45 p.m. (Pacific Standard Time). Meanwhile, Point Park concludes its magical season at 23-7 overall after advancing to its first-ever national tournament.
Junior Emily Tsugawa led the Warriors with 14 points on 4-for-7 shooting from the field to go along with six rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Senior Shayla Fetters added 13 points on 4-for-9 shooting from the field with a team-high seven rebounds and five assists, while junior Tess Bennett also scored in double figures with 12 points.
A see-saw battle over the opening five minutes would see Corban cling to a slim two-point lead (10-8) on a Fetters free throw with 15:26 left. Point Park would then get seven straight points from April Austin en route taking a 15-10 lead with the final points coming via a fast-break jumper with 13:15 on the clock. Back-to-back free throws by PPU's Joncelyn Peterkin would give the Pioneers another five-point lead (22-17) before Corban used a 14-2 run over a span of six minutes to secure a seven-point lead (31-24) on a Fetters three-pointer with 1:28 remaining. Over the final 88 seconds of the opening half, Point Park used a 7-0 run to tie the score for the second time thanks to a Emily Schartner three-pointer that knotted the score at 31-31 heading into the locker room.
The second half would begin with Corban using a patent run that resulted in an eight-point lead (54-46) for the Warriors on a jumper in the paint by junior Christy Mosier with 8:43 on the clock. Over the next six minutes, Point Park would fight and claw its way back into the game via an 11-0 run that would result in a one-point Pioneer lead (57-56) on a Katresa Savisky jumper in the paint with 2:48 remaining. A free throw by senior Katie Steigleman and two more free throws by Fetters would give Corban a two-point advantage (59-57) with 66 seconds left. Point Park would get one free throw from Kristen Beatty with 26 seconds left before a defensive stop with 21.6 seconds remaining would give the Pioneers the ball trailing by a single point (59-58). PPU would get two cracks at a potential game-winning shot, as Austin lifted a floater at the rim that bounded into the left corner where the Pioneers corralled the rebound with just under seven seconds left and called a timeout. The ensuing inbounds resulted in an open look for Peterkin, who could not get the point-blank attempt to go down with Buhler securing the biggest rebound of the season so-far to set-up the game-ending series of events.
Point Park was led by Peterkin's game-high totals of 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Austin added 16 points and went over 1,000 points for her career.
As a team, Corban combined to shoot 19-for-50 (38.0%) from the field to go along with a 5-for-11 (45.5%) showing from beyond the three-point line and a 17-for-25 (68.0%) performance at the free throw line. On the other hand, Point Park was 20-for-67 (29.9%) from the field, 4-for-18 (22.2%) from long distance, and 14-for-21 (66.7%) from the charity stripe.
"The girls know that they did not play their best and they know that they need to play better tomorrow night," said Williams. "We did not shoot the ball great and did not set the world on fire, which is uncharacteristic of us. In the end, we had to scratch and claw our way to victory."