Top-ranked Morningside beat College of Idaho, 69-47, on Friday night in the NAIA national tournament.SIOUX CITY -- -
No. 1-ranked Morningside advanced to the Elite Eight of the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Tournament with a 69-47 victory over No. 17 College of Idaho in Friday evening's second round action at Sioux City's Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena.
The Mustangs will take a 30-4 record and a 14-game winning streak into Saturday's quarterfinals, where they will meet 11th-ranked Bethel College of Indiana in an 8 p.m. contest.
A win against Bethel in the quarterfinals would enable Morningside head coach Jamie Sale to reach the 400-victory plateau for his career. Friday's triumph against College of Idaho put Sale's career record at 399-115, including a 320-95 ledger in 12 seasons at Morningside.
Morningside pressured College of Idaho into a 27.0 percent shooting performance from the field, including a woeful zero-for-18 effort from beyond the 3-point arc.
Chelsie Trask led the Mustangs with a game-high 17 points, while Ashlynn Muhl, who sat out the Mustangs' opening round victory against Webber International with an injury, was right behind with 16 points. Shelby Beaudette joined them in double figures with 12 tallies, while Hanna Blum just missed double figures with eight tallies.
Muhl led the Mustangs with nine rebounds, but it wasn't enough to prevent a 49-38 College of Idaho advantage on the boards.
The key to the Mustangs' victory was the first 11 minutes of the game when they took a 12-3 lead during a stretch where the Lady Yotes committed six turnovers and made only one of their first 13 shots of the game.
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No. 14 Briar Cliff (Iowa) shook off a cold-shooting first half to come back and upset No. 5 College of the Ozarks (Mo.), 80-67, in the second round of the NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championships on Friday. The Chargers erased a nine-point deficit by getting on a roll coming out of the locker room at halftime.
Behind an electric hometown crowd, Briar Cliff (25-9) came back from a 28-23 halftime deficit by tallying the first seven points of the frame. The Chargers spread the ball around beautifully as four players notched at least 10 points: Mattie Murren (17), Kelsey Evans (13), Slone Masters (12) and Sara Reeves (10).
The story of the night was Briar Cliff's drastic offensive improvement in the second half. The Chargers improved their shooting percentage from 26.5 in the first half to 46.9 in the second. They also were able to ice the game by drilling 23 of 29 second-half free throws.
Briar Cliff heads to the round of eight for the second-straight year and for the third time in the past four seasons under head coach Mike Power. The victory also marked the 20th in school history at the national tournament.
The Chargers will take on the winner between No. 4 Indiana Wesleyan and No. 19 Grand View (Iowa) at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
