Great Lakes District A Tournament
MU Ancilla 77
Southwestern Michigan College 69
The MU Ancilla Chargers entered the post-season on a 5-game winning streak that included a season-ending 65-50 win over Kellogg CC. The win over Kellogg was the 20th win of the season, only the 2nd time in 25 years that a women's basketball team won at least 20 games, joining the 2016-2017 team that won a school-record 26 games. The win over Kellogg also clinched a home game to start off the Great Lakes District A Tournament which proved to be very significant. The Chargers entered the post-season with an outstanding 12-2 home record.
The Chargers earned the right to host Southwestern Michigan College. The teams each won on their home court this season with MU Ancilla taking a 58-39 win while SMC won on their home court 68-48. Home court once again proved to be an important factor as the host Chargers took a 77-69 win. The game started out with red-hot shooting from the Chargers as they stormed to a 17-point first half lead before the Roadrunners made a late rally to enter halftime with a 43-33 score in favor of the Chargers. Jayci Allen led the way with 16 points in the first half followed by Kyra Duncan's 14 points as the Chargers shot 60% from the field.
The 3rd quarter saw SMC come out on fire on the offensive end and ultra-aggressive on the defensive end as they erased their 10-point deficit in just 3 minutes on a 12-2 run to tie the score at 45. After a Chargers timeout, the Roadrunners showed no signs of slowing down as they scored the 13 of the next 16 points to take a 58-48 lead and seemed to have all the momentum in their favor. The Chargers were able to score the last 5 points of the quarter to cut the lead back to 5 points. The Roadrunner onslaught resulted in a 25-10 quarter that gave SMC a 58-53 lead after the 3rd quarter.
The quarter break did wonders for the Chargers who regrouped and came out very focused and determined to get their lead back. Both teams traded baskets throughout the first few minutes of the 4th as the Chargers were unable to cut into the lead. Finally, at the 3:30 mark, the Chargers found themselves with a chance to tie or take the lead and it was Nicole Swain who stepped up with a huge 3-point shot to grab a 67-66 lead.
Coach Gould talked about Swain's shot. "Nicole's shot was huge in the sense that it finally got us a lead after trailing for the majority of the second half and it was also so important to get a basket from someone besides Jayci. Nicole is never scared of the moment and for that to be her first basket of the night proves that."
The Roadrunners responded quickly out of a timeout to take the lead back at 68-67 but it would prove to be their last lead of the night. The final 3 minutes saw the Chargers finish the game on a 10-1 run that was fueled by very strong defense and clutch free throw shooting. Jayci Allen followed up a missed shot for a putback basket to give the Chargers the lead back at 69-68. Ellie Fausnaugh made a key steal which led to a Kyra Duncan transition layup and the Chargers had a 71-68 lead. The Chargers strung together defensive stops followed by 4 FT's from Allen which were the last 4 of her 22 second-half points and 38 points for the game to go along with 13 rebounds. Kyra Duncan added 2 FT's to round out her 20-point night to finalize the scoring at 77-69.
After being outscored 25-10 in the 3rd quarter, the Chargers flipped the script to outscore SMC 24-11 in the 4th quarter to secure the win and the opportunity to advance to the Great Lakes District A Semi-Finals.
Coach Gould had high praise for his team after the big win. "Jayci Allen was incredible tonight. She scored 38 points and had 13 rebounds but she did it in a quiet way if that is even possible. She did not take bad shots, she let things come to her, and she took advantage of all her chances. She really struggled from the FT line about 1/2 way through the season but she got back to work and to see her go 14-15 from the line tonight shows that work paid off. Kyra Duncan was relentless in the way she attacked the basket as she has done all season for us. Her competitive streak has really come out during this six-game winning streak we have been on. Her defense has become such a big part of her game and she has become as good of a two-way guard as we have in this league. Nicole hit a huge 3 for us and played her usual high-energy and high-emotion game that carries our team through tough times. Alexis German goes out there and has 6 assists with 0 turnovers which is what a team needs in tournament play from their poing guard. Ellie Fausnaugh battled so hard in the paint with bigger players and came up with a huge steal late in the game. Derriauana Woodson and Audrey Schmidt came off the bench and battled really hard in the post which helped us sustain some foul trouble. Samaria Freeman stepped up with 10 massive points for us tonight. Teams focus so hard on Jayci and Kyra which means we need that 3rd scorer to emerge and tonight it was Sam who made big plays. Leah Thompson who did not even play provides so much maturity and a sense of calm to our team from the bench. I know I need that and I think our team responds so well to her words and her encouragement. All 9 of our girls made this win happen."
Coach Gould went on to praise his team's toughness. "This team has been so tough in close games this year and tonight was no different. We finished this game on a 10-1 run which is something we have done multiple times this year. We are 12-0 this season in games decided by 9 points or less which is absolutely crazy to think about. That is a testament to how prepared these girls are but also to the toughness they have. They always believe they are going to find a way to win and they have done it time after time. I could not be more proud of them."
Great Lakes District A
MU Ancilla 33
Mid-Michigan College 68
The MU Ancilla Chargers came into their Great Lakes District A Semi-Final game against Mid-Michigan, the #1 seed, coming off of a thrilling 77-69 win over Southwestern Michigan College and riding a 6-game winning streak. However, it was all Mid-Michigan on this night as the Lakers rolled to a 68-33 win to advance to the finals of the Great Lakes District A.
The Chargers were able to keep the game close in a back-and-fort first quarter, trailing just 15-10 as they headed to the 2nd quarter. The Lakers were able to gain a little more separation in the 2nd quarter as they outscored MU Ancilla 20-14 to take a 35-24 lead at the half. Foul trouble mounted for the Chargers throughout the first half as Kyra Duncan found herself with 3 fouls in the first quarter.
Coach Gould had this to say about the first half, "To go in down only 11, we felt pretty fortunate. We had to play 12 minutes without Kyra which we have not done at all this season and I thought we fought through that as best we could. We really struggled to make shots which has plagued us on the road this season at times and it caught up with us tonight."
The second half was all Lakers as they stormed out to a huge 23-5 third quarter to put the game out of reach. Mid-Michigan cruised home in the 4th quarter to take the 68-33 win over the Chargers.
"Two things happened tonight. First of all, we ran into an amazing team in Mid-Michigan. They are extremely well-coached, they are deep, and they are the best offensive team we have seen this year. They have shooters who you cannot help off of and they have a couple post players who can stretch the floor but also post up and play aggressively in the post. Mid-Michigan is very impressive on film and they are even moreso in person. We have the utmost respect for them. They were the much better team today and they deserve to advance in the tournament. The second thing that happened is we simply ran out of gas. We had such an emotional win on Tuesday and we have played some of our girls such heavy minutes this season that I think we just didn't have enough left in the tank to get the job done today.
Gould summarized the end of the season. "I'm disappointed that this is how we end up but I am nothing but proud of this group of 9 young ladies. They accomplished so many things this year. They are the second team in school history to win to finish with over 20 wins, finished on a 6-game winning streak that included a win against every team in our division, advanced to the post-season, and finished 12-2 at home. In addition, we had a team GPA of 3.18 in the 1st semester to go along with a team culture that allowed us to succeed."
The Chargers finish 21-9 on the season and 9-4 against MCCAA Western Conference opponents.
