UW-Stevens Point 80, Marymount 57
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Freshman guard Amanda Nechuta came off the bench to lead a second-half scoring burst that helped UW-Stevens Point score a 80-57 victory over Marymount in the semifinals of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championships at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
Stevens Point (29-3) advances to play St. Lawrence in Saturday's 8 p.m. championship game. Marymount (24-7) will play in the third place game.
Nechuta scored nine of her 13 points in a decisive eight-minute stretch of the second half that helped the Pointers pull away from a 33-25 halftime advantage to take a 20-point lead (53-33) with 9:39 left in the game.
Marymount could get no closer than 18 points the rest of the second half. Senior guard Andrea Kraemer scored 15 points to lead Stevens Point, while Nechuta had her 13 points and Cassandra Heuer also added 12 points off the bench.
Katie Jarvis scored 15 points to lead Marymount while Chris Lingenfelter added 11 points. All-American Candice Brown was held to two points.
St. Lawrence 69, DePauw 54
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — St. Lawrence continued its winning ways, defeating DePauw 69-54 in Friday's semifinal game of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Championship Tournament at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
The Saints, winners of 13 straight games, advances to play UW-Stevens Point in Saturday night's 8 p.m. championship game. UW-Stevens Point defeated Marymount University, 80-57, in the other semifinal contest.
Seniors Cara Barbierri, Meredith Eisenhut and Nicole Leary once again played instrumental roles in St.Lawrence's victory. Barbierri scored a game-high 17 points, while Eisenhut added 14 points and Leary had 13 points and eight rebounds.
St. Lawrence (28-3) outscored DePauw 18-5 in the final six minutes of the first half to go from trailing 15-12 to taking a 30-20 halftime lead. The Saints then proceeded to make seven of their first 12 field goals of the second half to move ahead by 17 points, 45-28, in the first six minutes of the second half.
DePauw, playing within 35 miles of its campus, could get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way. The Tigers take a 25-4 record into Saturday's third-place game.
Senior Lindsey Rush and junior Dana Ferguson each scored 16 points to lead DePauw while Amy Argetsinger added 10 points.