Championship Central |
Tournament Bracket
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The semifinal round of the 2020 Great Lakes Valley Conference Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament was played Friday afternoon in First Community Arena at the Vadalabene Center on the campus of SIU Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Illinois, and Lewis University and Drury University earned semifinal wins to advance to Championship Sunday at 1 p.m. Central Time.
This will be the Lady Panthers and Flyers second meeting in the title tilt, as the first was in 2007 that saw Lewis win 69-52 for its fifth tournament trophy, while Drury got the most recent victory in 2017, 67-63, for its sixth crown. This is Lewis’ fourth appearance in the title tilt, while Drury will be making its ninth visit in the final round.
SATURDAY SEMIFINAL RESULTS
#3 Lewis 76, #7 Bellarmine 65
BOX | RECAPS:
LEWIS,
BU
Lewis was down 17-14 after the first quarter and entered the half two points behind at 30-28, but the Flyers used a 23-12 third quarter edge to overtake the lead and hold on through the final quarter to punch its ticket to Sunday. Rachel Hinders led all scorers with 23 points to send Lewis to its first berth in the final contest since the 2017 event. As a team, Lewis shot 52.3 percent (23-of-44) from the field, 33.3 percent (6-of-18) from three, and 72.7 percent (24-of-33) from the foul line. The Knights were held to 21-of-61 shooting (.344) and 4-of-20 (.200) from three but did have the edge at the free-throw line, making 19-of-22 (.864).
#1 Drury 89, #5 Lindenwood 67
BOX | RECAPS:
DU,
LWU
The unbeaten top-ranked team in the country set itself up to become the first team in league history to win four championships in row, as Drury led this one wire-to-wire. The Panthers started with a huge 31-12 first quarter that carried them through to the end despite a much more even second frame at 15-14 and a Lindenwood win in the third period, 24-22. The Lions were also to keep it close in the final 10 minutes with just a 21-17 disadvantage but couldn’t overcome such a massive deficit from the first quarter. Drury got a game-high 21 points from Hailey Diestelkamp to go with six rebounds and five assists, while Lindenwood was led by Julia Ruzevich with a double-double of 17 points and 10 boards.
Single-session tickets for the championship are $20 for adults and $5 for students with a valid ID and youth 6-17 in age, while children ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge, but must be accompanied by an adult.
The championship game will stream live and for free on the GLVC Sports Network at
GLVCSN.com, on the GLVCSN iOS and Android mobile apps, as well as all the OTT platforms via AppleTV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku TV.
For more information on the 2020 GLVC Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament, log on to
GLVCsports.com/2020hoops.
FRIDAY QUARTERFINAL RESULTS
#3 Lewis 63, #6 Indianapolis 50
BOX | RECAPS:
LEWIS,
UINDY
The third quarterfinal of the postseason, but the first of the day, was filled with various and varying scoring runs by both teams throughout each quarter. First, Lewis went up by eight, but UIndy used an 11-0 run toward the end of the first quarter to bring things even before Lewis answered with a 12-2 run to open the second. It was 31-21 in favor of Lewis at halftime, as the Flyers extended that lead in the third by running off 18 points in a row for their biggest lead of the game at 49-23. The Greyhounds answered by finishing the quarter with an 11-1 run. While UIndy made another run at it in the fourth, finishing with a 16-13 edge in the quarter, the upset comeback bid fell short. Rachel Hinders finished with a game-high 26 points and 10 rebounds in the win.
#5 Lindenwood 79, #4 Truman State 59
BOX | RECAPS:
LWU,
TSU
Lindenwood used big first and fourth quarters to win its first-ever GLVC postseason game in its first season as league members. The Lions used their defense to score 23 points off 13 Truman turnovers while only committing seven. In the win, Kallie Bildner tallied a team-high 24 points and broke her own NCAA-era record for single-season points scored (555) with 15 rebounds and five assists. Bulldogs' Katie Jaseckas led the way with a game-high 25 points.
THURSDAY QUARTERFINAL RESULTS
#7 Bellarmine 66, #2 Southern Indiana 59
BOX | RECAPS:
BU,
USI
Bellarmine's Breia Torrens scored a game-high 16 points with nine rebounds and four assists to lead the seventh-seeded Knights to an upset win over second-seeded Southern Indiana. Freshman Hannah Haithcock paced the Screaming Eagles with 14 points and 12 rebounds in the loss. Bellarmine used an edge in shooting with a .390 (23-for-59) clip from the field and .474 (9-for-19) from the foul line, compared to USI's .319 (23-for-72) and .190 (4-for-21).
#1 Drury 94, #8 Maryville 73
BOX | RECAPS:
DU,
MU
Eighth-seeded Maryville kept it close through three quarters before top-seeded Drury pulled away in the fourth frame to keep its record unblemished at 30-0 led by GLVC Player of the Year Hailey Diestelkamp's 32 points and 10 rebounds. The Saints had five players in double figures, including Jayda Jansen with 13 points and eight boards. Both teams shot over 50-percent in the first half, but Drury forced Maryville into 28 turnovers and only committed 11.