NORTH CANTON, Ohio – The top two seeds in the bracket will be playing for the title as No. 1 Walsh and No. 2 Kentucky Wesleyan advanced out of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship semifinals on Friday night.
In Alumni Arena, the Cavaliers and Panthers may have won in different styles, but a playoff win is a playoff win.
It came down to the final shot as Walsh held off No. 5 and defending tourney champ Hillsdale, 72-70. Kentucky Wesleyan continued to blitz opponents after beating Ohio Dominican by 40 in the quarterfinals and quickly took control to eliminate No. 3 seed Cedarville, 82-61.
The Great Midwest Championship game will be played on Saturday at 4 p.m. ET while being streamed on the Great Midwest Digital Network. Todd Bell will be on the call for the final.
Either Walsh and Kentucky Wesleyan will represent the Great Midwest in the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional with the league’s automatic qualifier.
The Cavaliers overcame a nine-point deficit against the Chargers, riding a 22-point effort from freshman Sha Carter, who was the only player in double figures for the home team.
But sophomore Mayci Sales came up big in the fourth quarter and Brittni Clopton set the tone with some heady defensive plays to help the Cavaliers complete their rally. Walsh showed poise down the stretch and could finally let out a sigh of relief as a potential game-winning three by Jaycie Burger missed the mark as time expired.
The Cavaliers went on a 9-3 run late and won the battle of the fourth quarter, 22-15. Hillsdale looked every bit as good as advertised as a conference champion early on, riding the hot hand of first team all-conference forward Brittany Gray as she knocked down six threes.
The Chargers used an 11-2 run late in the third quarter to gain their biggest advantage of the night.
Walsh was the conference co-regular season champion along with Kentucky Wesleyan and Cedarville. The Cavaliers had defeated No. 8 Trevecca Nazarene in Tuesday’s quarterfinals while KWC toppled Ohio Dominican in a No. 2/7 seeded matchup.
Kentucky Wesleyan came out firing on all cylinders and really put Cedarville in an unrecoverable position down 14-0 in less than eight minutes elapsed in the first quarter.
Kaylee Clifford scored 18 of her game-high 23 points in the first half while three members on the all-conference team, Keelie Lamb, Jenna Martin and Lily Grimes, all reached double-digit scoring totals.
After a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter, KWC continued to build on it and led 52-28. Clifford was 7-for-11 from the field and drilled three threes while grabbing five rebounds and blocking three shots.