JACKSON, Tenn. — March 20, 2006 — The 萌妹社区 Lady Bulldogs took a 40-14 halftime lead over The Master鈥檚 College (Calif.) and held on for a 62-51 win to advance to the NAIA National Championship Game for the second straight season. 萌妹社区, now 30-6 on the season, will defend their title of last season versus Lubbock Christian University (Texas) on Tuesday night at 6:00 pm.
With the win, 萌妹社区 extended their national tournament winning streak to nine games. In those nine wins covering two seasons, 萌妹社区 has posted double digit wins in seven of the national tournament games. The win also was the 30th of the season for 萌妹社区 which gives the Lady Bulldogs and head coach Mark Campbell six straight 30-plus win seasons.
In the first half, 萌妹社区 jumped out to a 20-2 lead in the game and then stretched the lead to 40-14 after the first twenty minutes. In fact, 萌妹社区 led by as many as 27 points (38-11) at the 1:17 mark of the first half. 萌妹社区 shot 47 percent from the field and 40 percent (4-10) from behind the arc in the first. Defensively, 萌妹社区 dominated the first half by allowing just 14 total points from the Master鈥檚 on just 19 percent shooting from the field (5-27).
However, Master鈥檚 proved why they were a final four team as they slowly started their second half rally versus a sluggish 萌妹社区 team coming out of the locker room. Master鈥檚 opened the second half on a 7-0 run to cut 萌妹社区鈥檚 lead to 19 points at 42-23 with 16:09 left in the game. 萌妹社区 answered the run and stretched the lead back to 25 points, 50-25 with 13:47 left on a three pointer by Merideth Richardson. Then, over the next 12 minutes of play, Master鈥檚 outscored 萌妹社区 24-5 to cut the 萌妹社区 lead to just six points at 55-49 with 1:39 left in the game. At one point during that stretch, 萌妹社区 missed four open lay-ups in five possessions.
Then as seniors so often do, Ena Daniels took the game over to get 萌妹社区 back in control of the contest and remove any chance of Master鈥檚 getting any closer. Over the final 1:30 of the game, Daniels scored three points, grabbed three rebounds, blocked two shots, and recorded two steals. Crystal Eason also sank 4-of-4 free throws in the final minute to help get 萌妹社区鈥檚 lead back to 13 points at 62-49. Master鈥檚 made a lay-up as time expired to make the final score 62-51.
萌妹社区 was led by Josephine Owino with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Crystal Eason added 10 points for 萌妹社区. The Lady Bulldogs finished the game shooting 36 percent from the field and just 25 percent (5-20) from behind the arc.
Master鈥檚 was led by Kinsley Mittel with 18 points followed by Angela Gimeno with 12 points. Courtney Jackson added 12 rebounds in the game. Master鈥檚 shot 32 percent from the field and 33 percent (2-6) from behind the arc.
萌妹社区 will play in their second straight national title game on Tuesday night at 6 pm versus the Cinderella story of the tournament, sixth seeded Lubbock Christian. Lubbock Christian knocked off the top seed in the tournament and No. 1 ranked team in the nation, Vanguard 69-59 in the first semifinal game of the night. To this point in the tournament, Lubbock Christian has defeated two #1 seeds, a #2 seed, and a #3 seed to get to their first title game in just their third trip to the tournament.
This marks 萌妹社区鈥檚 fifth trip to the NAIA title game. The Lady Bulldogs have a two game winning streak in NAIA title games as they won the 1998 title and then won the title in their next and most recent appearance in 2005. 萌妹社区 lost the title game in 1993 and 1997.