 Posted by
WHAC SID
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Fri, Mar 13, 2009
- [
Women's Basketball
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Davenport University continues to make history this basketball season. The Panthers made short work of their second round match up against Huntington College (Ind.) and rolled to a 72-56 victory at the NAIA DII Women's Basketball National Championship and advanced to the Elite 8 for the first time in school history. The tournament is being played at Tyson Events Center/Gateway Arena in Sioux City, Iowa.
One of four top seeds, Davenport faced a slow start in the opening minutes of the ball game. The teams traded leads midway through the half until Kallie Benike and Brittany Lyman put Davenport up by eight. Benike scored 12 points and Lyman had seven during the scoring stretch. A buzzer beater at the half pulled Huntington to within six at 34-39.
The Panthers opened the second half with an offensive push and increased the lead to 11. Huntington closed the gap to just three points at the halfway mark. Karlee Despres connected on a layup with just over three minutes to play for a another double-digit lead.
Davenport's defense again held fast as the Panthers forced 23 turnovers and held Huntington to 34% shooting. DU also won the rebounding battle with a 45-36 advantage. Huntington finishes the season at 25-7.
Davenport, the lone WHAC team remaining, was led by Benike's 18 points and improved to 31-2 on the year. Kristi Boehm added 13 points and Despres finished with 10. The Panthers will face the winner of the Northwestern College (Iowa)/Sterling College (Kan.) game on Saturday at 6 p.m.
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