Bentley | 74 |
---|---|
Drury | 66 |
ERIE, Pa. — Courtney Finn and Lauren Battista were named All-Americans at the Elite Eight banquet on Monday night.
Tuesday night, the two took over a close game to keep Bentley’s perfect season going at least one more round.
Finn scored a career-high 30 points and Battista added 20 as the Falcons (33-0) held off upset-minded Drury (Mo.), 74-66, in the NCAA Division 2 women’s basketball Elite Eight in front of 2,258 at Erie Insurance Arena.
“I don’t think it was a tremendous offensive performance by us and we all admit that,” said Bentley coach Barbara Stevens. “At the same time, we showed a tremendous amount of grit and determination. Obviously, when you have two All-Americans to lead the way, it helps break things down and they are our go-to players. They delivered and I’m very proud of them.”
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No. 1 Bentley, which set a school record for wins in a season, moves on to the Final Four Wednesday against No. 18 Cal Poly-Pomona at 8:30 p.m. with a trip to national championship on the line.
The Falcons raced out to a 29-16 lead with 6:24 left in the first half, but with three Bentley starters in foul trouble, Drury started attacking the basket.
The fired-up Panthers were able to cut the lead to 36-32 at halftime, but couldn’t overcome the Falcons’ lead with the strong play of Finn.
“In the first half when we were in foul trouble, I knew I had to somewhat take some control,” said Finn, a graduate student. “I credit my teammates for coming in off the bench and holding down the fort until the second half. The shots weren’t falling in the first half and we had to get to the rim.”
Finn scored 19 points in the second half and finished 12 of 15 from the free throw line.
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She also pulled down 10 rebounds, including eight on defense, while Battista had five rebounds and Caleigh Colwell added 11 first-half points.
“When we had three starters on the bench in the first half, Courtney saved the day and made some key 3-pointers that kept us going,” Stevens said. “She helped maintain the slight lead that we had and in the second half we really just tried to get everyone out of her way and out of Lauren’s way. We wanted to let them do their thing and they really came through for us.”
While Bentley’s leaders stepped up on offense, the defense neutralized 6-foot-7-inch center Amber Dvorak. The impressive post player was in foul trouble throughout the game and finished with 2 points. Sanayika Shields stepped up in Dvorak’s place with 21 points and 11 rebounds, but it was not enough for the Panthers to pull off the upset.
Drury (27-4) rallied to take a 52-50 lead with 9:37 left, but a free throw from freshman Jen Gemma and a 6-0 run over the next three minutes helped the Falcons pull away.
“We are extremely confident in each other and when Drury made a run at us and went up by a few points in the second half, we never had a sense of doubt that we would win the game,” Battista said. “It comes from playing together for four years and we’ve been down 15-20 points before and come back. I think it’s just a sense of confidence and calm that we have in each other.”
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Annie Armstrong added 15 points for Drury, while Paige Wilson scored 10.
“Drury made a run in the second half and we had some tense moments,” Stevens said. “We made some mistakes on defense and left some shooters open on some breakdowns, but ultimately when it came down to making plays, Courtney and Lauren made the big plays we needed them to make. It’s a quarterfinal game in the Elite Eight and I think them being here before was important experience for us to count on.”