Morningside women cap 38-0 season with NAIA Division II title

SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- The Morningside College women put the finishing touches on a storybook season when the Mustangs won the NAIA Division II National Championship with a 68-63 victory against GPAC rival Hastings College in Tuesday's title game in Sioux City's Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena.

It was a marquee matchup that pitted two teams that had combined to win five of the previous seven NAIA II national titles.

Morningside, which also won national titles in 2004 and 2005, finished the campaign with a 38-0 record and joined Indiana Wesleyan in 2007 as the only teams in history to win the NAIA II crown with an undefeated record.

Eighteenth-ranked Hastings was the cinderella finalist after a fifth place GPAC finish during the regular season.

The Broncos upset second-ranked Shawnee State in the second round and No. 3 College of the Ozarks in the semifinals.

For awhile, it looked like they might add top-ranked Morningside to their list of upset victims when Hastings took a 50-44 lead midway through the second half before the Mustangs rallied to keep their undefeated season intact.

Dani Gass, named to the all-tournament team, fueled the Mustangs' triumph with game-high totals of 24 points and 12 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season. The 12 rebounds matched her season's high.

Leslie Foral gave the Mustangs one of her top offensive performances of the season with 14 points and Roni Miller provided 11 points off the bench. Brittany Williamson just missed double figures with eight points.

Autumn Bartel was named the national tournament MVP. She dealt a game-high five assists and had four steals to share Mustang honors with Foral.

The 12 rebounds by Gass and a career-high seven rebounds by Laura Nelson led the Mustangs to a 36-30 advantage on the boards. Nelson also had seven rebounds in the Mustangs' semifinal round victory against Northwestern College.

Lindsay Ducey had a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds for Hastings and was joined in double figures by Kay Broekemeier with 14 points, Kim Faimon with 12 and Heather McKeon with 10.

Hastings took an early 5-4 lead after a 3-pointer by Broekemeier and a basket by Rachel Isherwood, but Morningside answered with a 13-point run, capped by back-to-back 3-pointers by Gass from the top of the key, to go up 17-5 with 13:30 left in the half.

Foral was also instrumental in the early Mustang spurt when she drove into the lane for one score and also drilled a jumper from the baseline.

Faimon rallied the Broncos with a conventional 3-point play along with a 3-point bomb and then Becky Tesch drilled a 3-pointer of her own to pull Hastings within 23-17 with 10:10 left in the half.

The Broncos kept charging by working the ball inside to Ducey for her first two baskets of the game, followed by a Broekmeier 3-pointer to close within 25-24 with 5:50 left.

Foral quieted the Broncos' rally with a 3-pointer to start a stretch where the Mustangs outscored their opponent 14-6 over the final 5:26 of the half to take a 39-30 lead into the intermission.

Ducey scored the Broncos' first eight points of the second half to lead Hastings on a 20-5 spurt to start the second half. The Broncos opened up a 50-44 lead for their largest advantage of the game when Faimon made two free throws with 12:17 remaining.

Led by Gass and Miller, the Mustangs didn't buckle and went on an 18-4 run to surge in front 62-54 with 3:51 left. Gass and Miller each scored seven points during the pivotal run.

Hastings rallied within 64-61 with 1:03 left on a 3-pointer by McKeon, but the Mustangs held on with some clutch free throw shooting down the stretch by Foral and Miller to wrap up their third national championship of the decade.