On Thursday, the Men’s and Women’s Great Midwest Athletic Conference Basketball Championships kicked off with four quarterfinal games on each side. This evening, in Philippi and in Nashville, the teams that advanced will battle for a spot in Saturday’s Finals.
MEN’S BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
PHILIPPI, West Virginia - In the first of two semifinal games, #6 Salem International, which upset #3 Central State on Thursday in the highest scoring game between two conference opponents, will battle #2 Kentucky Wesleyan in what could be a possible slight home court advantage for the Tigers. Despite the neutral site for the two teams, Salem International is only 26 miles from Philippi, while the Panthers home is 486 miles from the Coliseum.
A home court advantage might not be enough for SIU as the Panthers swept the season series, winning back in December in Owensboro by 28 and again at the end of January, but this time by only five points. In the second meeting, a 101-96 decision, KWC led by as many as 17 points in the second half, by Salem trimmed the lead down to two points with 2:10 remaining in the contest.
The Panthers secured with win at the free throw line and a big ‘and-one’ by Ken-Jah Bosley to push the lead to six with just over a minute left.
Over the two contests, Bosley led the way scoring 25 points in each game. KWC had five players reach double figures in the first win, and four in the second. Donovan Johnson averaged 13 points a game, while playing an average of only 17 minutes off the bench. For SIU, Walter Brock scored a series-high 41 points in the closer of the two losses, and only two points in the blowout loss. Alex Webb averaged 15.5 points over the two games, as he was the only player to score in double-figures for the Tigers in each of the two meetings.
In the second semifinal of the evening, #5 Davis & Elkins, which advanced with its win over #4 Cedarville, will take on top seed and tournament host Alderson Broaddus, who made easy work of its quarterfinal opponent, Ohio Valley.
In the regular season, Alderson Broaddus won both meetings with Davis & Elkins, but in no way is overlooking the team’s ability as the Battlers won each game by five points. The second game, which was the final game of the regular-season needed overtime to decide a winner.
In the first meeting in Philippi, the game featured seven lead changes throughout the contests, with Alderson Broaddus taking the lead for good early in the second half behind a 12-0 run. The Battlers pushed their second half advantage to 11 points, but D&E was able to cut the lead back to two points with ten minutes to go. The game remained tight at the Senators trailed by just three with a minute to go, but AB secured the win on a three-pointer by Brian Dixon.
In the second meeting between the teams, AB controlled a majority of the game building a 17 points lead before a 20-4 run by the Senators pulled them to within a point. D&E took its first lead since the opening bucket with just under nine minutes to play and held that advantage until a tip-in with three seconds remaining by G-MAC Player of the Year Adam Kline forced overtime.
In the overtime, AB scored the first bucket and never game up the lead, though the final spread of five points was the largest lead they held, scoring six of their ten points in overtime from the free throw line.
In the two games, Malcolm Tatum and Richard Lemon scored in double-figures in each of the games, averaging 13.5 points each. Kline posted 14 points and 11 rebounds in the overtime win, and nine points and 12 boards in the win at the end of January. For D&E, Devin Miller average 15.5 points a game to lead the way.
MEN’S BASKETBALL FINALS
The winner of the first semifinal between Salem International and Kentucky Wesleyan will advance and face either Davis and Elkins or Alderson Broaddus. For Salem, Alderson Broaddus swept the season series, while the Tigers split the regular season games with the Senators. Kentucky Wesleyan had just two losses on the season in conference, both coming against Alderson Broaddus. So for the Battlers, the confidence is high, winning all regular season meetings with its potential opponent in the finals.
A full preview of the finals will be posted on Saturday morning leading up to the championship finals.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL SEMIFINALS
NASHVILLE, Tennessee - In the first of two semifinal games, #5 Ursuline, which upset #4 Davis & Elkins on Thursday, will take on host and top seed Trevecca Nazarene. This is the second meeting between the two teams in Nashville in less than a week. The Arrows concluded its regular-season with a road trip from Cleveland to Owensboro, Kentucky and Nashville, Tennessee.
In the two regular-season meetings, TNU won both meetings by double-digits (11 and 10 points). In each of the wins, Christina Curtner led the Trojans in scoring with 16 points in the first win and 19 in the second. In the second game, she also grabbed a team-high 11 rebounds to record her second double-double of the season.
In the first meeting, TNU used its balanced offensive attack to shoot 51.7% and have five players reach double-figures. In the second meeting, the Arrows defense improved holding TNU to only 39.7% shooting, though four players hit the double-figures mark.
Leading Ursuline in the two contests was a pair of freshman as Tajanee Wells scored 50 points in the two games and Erica Huber posted 33 points, including 21 in the earlier meeting between the teams.
In the second semifinal of the evening, #3 Kentucky Wesleyan, which advanced with its 77-44 win over Ohio Valley, will take on #2 seed Cedarville, who advanced by a similar margin, 75-48, over Alderson Broaddus. This match-up is the only one of the four semifinal games in the Men’s and Women’s Championships that features the two highest seeds advancing into the semifinals from the quarterfinals.
In the regular season meetings between Kentucky Wesleyan and Cedarville, the two teams split the season series, as each team lost on the road. The Panthers traveled to Ohio just after the new year holiday (Jan. 2) and won by eight points, 82-74. Cedarville returned the favor in February, stealing the 75-72 win. The Lady Jackets led by a point at halftime 40-39, and KWC was able to take a quick lead to start the second half, scoring first. Cedarville then reclaimed the lead for good, holding the advantage throughout the second half. KWC kept it close throughout as Cedarville’s lead never grew beyond eight.
For the Panthers, Karly Rhoads, the G-MAC Player of the Year, scored 25 points in the February win and 14 in the earlier victory. In that January win, Jordanne Gambill led the way with a game-high 23 points. For Cedarville, Kayla Jenerette scored 17 points and 18 points in the two games, leading the way in both contests. Kaysie Brittenham also posted 18 points alongside Jenerette. Kayla Linkous had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, the only player to reach double-figures in rebounds in either of the two contests for either team.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL FINALS
The winner of the first semifinal between Ursuline and Trevecca Nazarene will advance and face either Cedarville or Kentucky Wesleyan. For TNU, the road to the championship will be a difficult one regardless of the opponent if they get past Ursuline. The Trojans won both meetings with Kentucky Wesleyan this year, but they won them by a combined four points, and against Cedarville the Trojans lost both of those meeting accounting for both of their G-MAC losses.
As for Ursuline, if they are able to upset the top overall seed and advance to the finals, they will have to earn another first in order to secure the conference championship. Ursuline, which went 0-2 against TNU, would need to earn its first win over the Trojans, and then do the same against either Cedarville or Kentucky Wesleyan. The Arrows lost to Cedarville by 12 points in both meetings, but against KWC they lost by 24 in the first match-up, but rebounded and fell by only two points on the road only a week ago.
As mentioned, KWC lost both meetings with TNU and earned wins over Ursuline twice, while if Cedarville was to advance to the championship, they would probably be the favorite despite the #2 seed as they won all four meetings with Ursuline and TNU.
A full preview of the finals will be posted on Saturday morning leading up to the championship finals.