NORTH CANTON, Ohio – As league history has shown in the past, the No. 1 seed in the tournament bracket for any sport can be a tenuous position with some wild upsets regardless of sport.
For top-seeded Walsh, it was an embraceable pinnacle for an impressive three-game ride to the top of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Championship playoffs with Saturday’s title victory.
The Cavaliers utilized matchups strategically, clamped down defensively and the home crowd was fired up inside Alumni Arena as the home team stifled No. 2 seed Kentucky Wesleyan, 84-68. It also just added to what had turned out to be a perfect day for the hoops programs as news of the men's tournament win at Findlay rippled through the PA waves in the pregame festivities.
Head coach Kate Bruce’s program will now put their dancing shoes on in the field of 64 as an automatic qualifier into the NCAA Championship Midwest Regional. The Cavaliers are peaking, winners of 12 straight, going into the extended postseason.
Kentucky Wesleyan had absolutely blitzed Ohio Dominican and Cedarville coming into the tournament title clash, but had difficulties solving Walsh’s height and athleticism as this one wore on.
The Panthers still found their mark from deep, draining 10 more three-point baskets, and showed signs of appearing to open a more substantial lead. The season is certainly not over for the Panthers, who currently rank seventh in the regional rankings.
KWC’s chances as an at-large selection will partially hinge on the outcomes of the Great Lakes Valley Conference and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference tournaments that conclude on Sunday.
The NCAA Championship selection show will be streamed on Sunday night at 10 p.m. ET with three AQ’s and five at-large picks forming the Midwest Region.
The pace was quick from the onset and both teams combined for 42 points in the opening quarter.
Freshman Quionche “Sha” Carter was borderline perfect as she managed a game-high 26 points on 12-of-15 shooting. Carter was able to get into the lane at will and the offense was executed efficiently from the low post.
Sophomore guard Kimmie Borck was a sparkplug off the bench with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Borck appeared to go down with an injury after making one of her three triples in the first half, but returned with a vengeance to make more of an impact.
Borck dropped a three down from the top of the key, a shot that had Alumni Arena rocking arguably the loudest it had been all weekend and forced a timeout. She also made the go-ahead basket with 7:32 left in the third quarter and helped the Cavaliers carry a five-point edge into the final period.
Walsh held KWC to just nine fourth quarter points and was able to open up the double-digit lead in a contest that featured four ties and 15 lead changes.