SIOUX CITY, Iowa – Junior forward Stormee Van Belle nailed back-to-back clutch jumpers with less than two minutes to go, and the ninth-ranked EOU women’s basketball team halted a late comeback on the way to defeating sixth-seeded and 21st-ranked Dickinson State, 80-71, on Wednesday night in the first round of the 2017 NAIA Division II National Championship.
A late tipoff didn’t seem to faze the Blue and Gold, which led by as many as 13 points and collected its first national tournament win since 2013.
Van Belle and junior guard Maya Ah You (Dias) led four Mountaineers in double figures with 14 points apiece, while junior guard Reece Bauer and senior guard Darian Gasseling added 12 and 10 points, respectively.
EOU (29-4) started the game hot, netting three of its first four to take a 7-3 lead after a triple by Bauer. However, the Blue and Gold went scoreless in the next two minutes, and the Blue Hawks strung together an 8-0 run to go up by four (11-7) at the 5:43 mark of the first quarter. Three’s by junior guard Payton Parrish and Bauer helped the Mountaineers regain a two-point (17-15) edge, but Dickinson State ultimately closed the stanza with a 5-0 run.
In the second frame, Gasseling came off the bench to score eight quick points, including two three’s, and then Dias made two-straight jumpers to put EOU on top, 32-28, at the 6:07 mark. In the final seconds of the quarter, Gasseling knocked down a midrange jumper to swell the lead to six (42-36), and then Van Belle and senior forward Donniesha Webber both tallied rejections to cap the first half.
Dickinson State (23-8) crept to within four (51-47) midway through the third before Bauer and senior forward Ashley Knight drilled back-to-back three’s to stretch it back to eight (57-49), and then the Mountaineers mustered a 13-8 run to extend the difference to 13 (70-57) after Parrish buried another three at the 8:43 mark of the fourth quarter.
EOU went on to suffer a seven-minute scoring drought, and the Blue Hawks made it a two-point (70-68) game after Lorna Shepherd went 1-for-2 at the charity stripe.
That’s when the Mountaineers turned to Van Belle, who buried two midrange jumpers and then went 5-for-6 at the line to carry EOU down the stretch, and the Blue and Gold ultimately prevailed with an 80-71 triumph over Dickinson State.
EOU converted 18 Blue Hawk turnovers into 26 points, and the Mountaineers finished with 13 triples compared to none by Dickinson State.
Ashley Bentz-Laub and Shepherd led the Blue Hawks with 28 and 25 points, respectively.
BY THE NUMBERS
1ST – National tournament win for EOU since the 2012-13 campaign.
32 – The Mountaineers reaped 32 points from their bench compared to zero by the Blue Hawks.
9 – Van Belle scored nine of her 14 points in the fourth quarter and was key down the stretch for the Blue and Gold.
UP NEXT
EOU returns to action on Friday against second-seeded Dakota Wesleyan (27-6) at 1:45 p.m. CT.