The Shawnee State Bears gave it their all, but fell 67-61 to the defending national champions Azusa Pacific Cougars in the Second Round of the NAIA Division I Women's National Championship presented by Kentuckytourism.com. Shawnee trailed by 17 with 7:00 minutes left in the game and outscored the Cougars 20-9 in the final seven minutes but it wasn't enough as Asuza Pacific capped off the win hitting six free throws in the final minute to knock off the Bears. Shawnee State finishes the season 28-5.
Junior Schera Sampson (Round Rock, TX) scored the Bears first eight points and sophomore Alannah Sheets (Leon, WV) drained a 3-pointer to give the Bears the 11-4 lead to open the game. Azusa's Amber Williams answered with four points to pull the Cougars within three. Senior Abby Ballman (Cincinnati, OH) drained a 3-pointer to extend the lead 14-8. The Cougars went on a 6-0 run, capped off by Williams hitting a pair of free throws to knot the game at 14.
Ballman hit another 3-pointer giving Shawnee the 17-14 lead. Asuza's Briana Hall pulled the Cougars within one with a offensive rebound and put-back. Hall gave the Cougars their first lead, 19-17, on an and-one play. Bears regained the lead, 20-19, as junior Allison Nagle (Loveland ,OH) hit a 3-pointer from the corner. Asuza Pacific answered going on a 16-0 run to take their largest lead of the first half, 35-20, with 4:20 remaining in the half.
Junior Alex Pohl (Loveland, OH) found Sheets long for a lay-up to stop the Bears draught. Sampson hit a bank shot and junior Catrice Mitchell (Columbus, OH) hit two free thows to cut the Cougar lead to 35-26. APU's Hannah Kenny hit a basket with 1:07 left to extend the lead 37-26. Sampson hit a turn-around jumper with under a minute left to pull the Bears' within nine, 37-26, at the half.
Sampson scored 12 points for the Bears in the first half, while Williams had 12 for the Cougars.
Azusa Pacific opened the second half with five straight points. Sophomore Tabby McKinney (Canton, OH) found Sampson underneath at the 17:52 mark to put the Bears on the board. Back-to-back layups by Ballman pulled the Bears within 10, 46-36. After a free throw by Asuza's Hall, Ballman hit a long range jumper to cut the deficit to single digits, 47-39.
On the other end, Kenny had an offensive put-back, extending the lead back to 10. Nagle hit two free throws for the Bears. Azusa Pacific capped off a 6-0 run with another offensive put-back by Kenny extending the Cougars lead to the largest of the game, 58-41, with 7:00 minutes remaining.
Shawnee State fought back and cut the lead to two twice in the final two minutes.
Sampson hit a basket and a 3-pointer cutting the lead to 58-46. On the Bears' next possession Sampson was fouled in the act of shooting three and hit two free throws cutting the lead to 10. Azusa Pacific's Madalene Barrett hit a free throw, but Sampson answered with another bucket cutting it to 59-50. Sheets cut the deficit to 59-52 with a basket with 3:12 remaining. Hall hit a jumper at the free throw line, but Sheets answered with another basket cutting lead to 61-54 with 2:29 left in the game.
Sheets hit a big 3-pointer with 1:57 left, cutting the Cougar lead to four. After forcing the Cougars to take a bad shot, Ballman drove in hitting a jumper to cut the lead to 61-59 wtih just over a minute to play. Ballman almost forced a Cougar turnover, but after a scramble for the ball, Asuza came up with loose ball and Williams was fouled in the act of shooting. She hit both free throws extending lead back to four. Sheets found McKinney underneath for two with 30 seconds remaining. Hall hit a pair of free throws, extending the lead to four and off the Cougar win with two more free throws to knock off the Bears, 67-61.
Sampson led all scorers as she tied her career-high 23 points. She also pulled down six boards and dished out four assists in the contest. Ballman, the lone senior, scored 15 points and finishes her career 7th on the Bears' all-time roster with 1,410 points. She also finishes as Shawnee's all-time steals leader with 375 steals. Sheets finished with 14 points and four assists.
Hall led the Cougars with 19 points and nine assist. Williams finished wtih 18 points and 12 rebounds.
Shawnee State shot 36 percent in the game, making 21-of-58 shots. Azusa Pacific went 24-of-64 in the game for 38 percent. Each team shot 30 percent from beyond the arc. Shawnee hit seven 3-pointers, while the Cougars hit four. At the line the Bears converted 12-of-15 free throws for 80 percent. The Cougars went 15-for-17 at the line for 88 percent.
The Cougars out rebounded the Bears 44-35 in the including 20-14 in offensive rebounds.
Asuza Pacific advances to play the winner of the Okaloma City/Westminster winner in the Quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon.
