PEPPER PIKE, Ohio – Following a roller-coaster ride in the final of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship, Ursuline is going dancing.
The Arrows emerged on top of a seesaw battle that went down to the wire against Cedarville on Saturday, adding another chapter to an already memorable 2015-16.
Ursuline (25-3) dethroned Cedarville by a score of 72-65 as the G-MAC co-regular season champion programs both gave it their all in a game that featured nine ties and 10 lead changes.
Ursuline had four players balanced in double figures led by sophomore forward Camryn Hill with 19 points that included four three-point field goals. G-MAC Player of the Year Laney Lewis, Erica Huber had 13 and G-MAC Freshman of the Year Brigan Wymer had 11.
Cedarville’s Breanne Watterworth capped a terrific tournament showing with 14 points and four rebounds while Taylor Vander Plas and Kayla Linkous each scored a dozen.
A battle of two well-respected coaches, Ursuline’s Shannon Sword and Cedarville’s Kirk Martin, tilted in favor of the Arrows as Martin’s retirement tour concluded in the Stano Athletic Center.
Sword, the G-MAC Coach of the Year, spoke of admiration for her peer in Coach Martin during the postgame press conference.
“He’s been a mentor and a role model for me,” Sword said. “I don’t like it that we’ve put him out this year, but he’s been great for college basketball.”
The Arrows ultimately cashed in on the conference’s first automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional. Cedarville was an at-large qualifier for the 2015 national tourney.
The NCAA Selection Show on Sunday for the 64-team women’s bracket will air on NCAA.com at 10 p.m. EST.
Ursuline was ranked ninth in the most recent Midwest Region rankings, but the Arrows are out to make a statement at their regional site -- potentially at Ashland, where Sword used to coach.
“The NCAA Tournament – there’s no greater thrill than that in college basketball,” Sword said. “That’s the epitome of March Madness and we’ve put ourselves in that position. We’re not looking at it as one game. It’s a great opportunity to represent our conference.”
“It was one of the most, if not the most, exciting games I’ve been a part of as a player or coach,” she added. “We were down 58-50 and went on an 8-0 run to get back into it. I’m just so proud of them I can’t put it into words.”
Ursuline outscored Cedarville in the fourth quarter, 22-10. The Arrows won the first quarter while Cedarville had the upper hands in the second and third periods.
The Yellow Jackets committed 23 turnovers to the Arrows’ seven, including a dozen Ursuline steals.
Ursuline's well-documented story of its new athletic facility stemming from tornado destruction circulated around some of the larger Cleveland media markets and capped a remarkable turnaround in a short amount of time.
“It was amazing having our own fans and having our student body come back on Spring Break just to watch us,” said sophomore forward Camryn Hill. “We had a lot of people we needed to try and make proud.”
“It was a rough road,” reflected Huber. “It’s so awesome to get our new gym and come have the season that we’ve had. I would have never guessed it and I was a part of it.”