NORFOLK, Va. — Millikin’s Laura Zimmerman started the second half with a block and a defensive rebound, followed by a Lindsey Koehn 3-pointer to open the second half. Audrey Minott followed up with a layup for a 34-25 lead as the Big Blue rattled off the first five points in of the second half en route to the 70-50 win and a national championship.

Clearly the No. 6 ranked Millikin University Big Blue (29-2) was not intimidated by the atmosphere or the pressures that come with earning a national title, as it was relentless in its 70-50 win over No. 4 ranked Randolph-Macon.

Joanna Conner made it an 11-point game (38-27) with two free throws in the 16th minute and Millikin clearly had control of the game, with Randolph-Macon being called for four fouls in the first four minutes.

“It takes so much luck and a window of opportunity to win a national championship and I know how difficult it is to win one,” head coach Lori Kerans said. “I tried to mentor this class like other coaches have mentored national champions. I thought this (junior) class, with Audrey, could contend for a national championship. This is a new mark for our program.”

When Randolph-Macon was forced to call a timeout at 13:53, Millikin had taken a 44-30 lead, extended to 47-30 on a 3-pointer by Koehn. With Millikin leading 49-31 with 10:17 left, the Yellow Jackets were running out of time to make a run and catch the Big Blue. But Millikin’s defense continued to lock them down, force turnovers and the Big Blue kept coming up with the rebounds, taking a 20 point lead on a jumper by Conner at the 8 minute mark.

“We set a goal to hold people to 50-55 points. Randolph-Macon is a very explosive team. It was our goal to hold them to 55,” Kerans said. “We take great pride in the way in which we defend opponents. It really has to do with the players trusting each other when they switch.”

By 7:26 when Randolph-Macon called a timeout Millikin was up 55-35 and Minott, who played in a career record 109 games, added two free throws after the break as Millikin continued to pull away.

After Ippel scored her 25th point of the game, Randolph-Macon was trailing 70-50 with 1:18 left it was clear that Millikin had run, rebounded and hustled its way to the title. Millikin seniors Kristin Trotter and Heather Miller checked in at the timeout and, Millikin emptied its bench in the last minute as the Big Blue brought home their first team title in the history of Millikin athletics.

For the game, Ippel scored a game-high 25 points while Minott scored 15. Conner posted three team highs with a double-double of 15 rebounds and 14 points with six assists. For Randolph-Macon, Silva finished with 11 points and Emily Crider scored 10. Crider also led the Yellow Jackets with seven boards. Millikin shot 39.7 from the field, including 46.7 in the second half. The Big Blue defense held the Yellow Jackets to just 25.4 shooting.

To highlight the title, Millikin had three players named to the All-Tournament team in Audrey Minott, Lindsay Ippel and Joanna Conner. Joining them were Randolph-Macon’s Megan Silva and Southern Maine’s Megan Myles. Conner was also named the Most Outstanding Player.

It was clear from the get-go that Millikin’s up-tempo play had set the pace, jumping out to a quick lead. And the Big Blue never let Randolph-Macon get close enough to cause any panic.

Late in the first half, Megan Silva closed the gap to just a one-point Millikin lead, 21-20, with two free throws with five minutes left, but Laura Zimmerman gave the Big Blue a five-point cushion near the 3-minute mark for a 25-20 score. Randolph-Macon’s Salem Shaffer hit a 3-pointer with 30 seconds left to pull within 27-25, but Conner dumped in her fifth shot of the first half for a 29-25 halftime score.

By the 10-minute mark of the first half, all five of Millikin’s starters had scored, as Millikin was spreading the wealth and picking apart the Randolph-Macon defense, specifically in the post, with Millikin’s Joanna Conner and Lindsay Ippel combining for 17 of the Big Blue’s first-half points. Laura Zimmerman added eight first-half points while floating between the guard and post positions.

Zimmerman and Conner were solid in every facet in the first half, recording eight each. Conner also had a team-high 10 points while Zimmerman dropped in eight. Ippel had scored seven for the Big Blue by halftime and Millikin had out-rebounded the Yellow Jackets 29-19. Millikin limited Randolph-Macon’s All-American Megan Silva to just six first-half points, two of them on free throws.

For the Yellow Jackets, Michelle Orton had eight first-half points to go with Silva and Megan Senske’s six. Salem Shaffer and Orton each had four rebounds for Randolph-Macon and Silva had three assists.

The 3-pointers, which carried the Big Blue in Friday’s win over Southern Maine, were hard to come by in the first half as Millikin failed to knock down any in eight attempts. On the other end of the floor, the Yellow Jackets struggled as well, making just one of 10. Millikin shot 34.2 from the field in the first half (13-of-38) while Randolph-Macon was just 9-of-32 (28.1). The Yellow Jackets were perfect from the charity stripe (6-6) while Millikin was 3-of-5 (0.60).

The NCAA Championship is the first for any team in Millikin history, and the first women’s basketball team to win the championship since the CCIW began crowning a conference champion in 1987. It is the second national title for a CCIW women’s team this year with Wheaton winning the women’s soccer championship last fall. With the Championship headed to Decatur, the Central Region has now won seven of the last 10 NCAA titles.

Millikin wraps up the season with a 16-game win streak while the loss ended Randolph-Macon’s 23-game streak. Millikin head coach Lori Kerans wraps up the 2004-05 campaign with a career record of 382-120 while Yellow Jackets head coach Carroll LaHaye is 354-249 in her career. This year’s trip to the NCAA Final Four was the second trip for Kerans, who was the starting point guard on Millikin’s 1985 3rd place team.

“I am not sure this it has sunk in yet. My heart is about to burst,” Kerans said. “I am not for sure that this is the best-ever team at Millikin, but this team carried the torch for all the kids who have been through the program.”

Both Millikin and Randolph-Macon advanced to the finals with upset victories during Friday’s semi-final games. Each team was also making its program’s first Championship Game appearance. Millikin’s previous best Final Four finish was a 3rd place finish in 1985 while Randolph-Macon reached the Sweet 16 in 1996.

No. 5 ranked Southern Maine (31-3) topped No. 1 ranked Scranton (29-3) in the third place game, 55-53.