LEBANON, Tenn. – Fourth-ranked Campbellsville University Lady Tiger Basketball defeated Georgetown College, 75-68, to win its fifth Mid-South Conference Tournament Championship and first in three years Sunday, March 9.
Campbellsville flipped a nine-point Georgetown lead with 14:54 left and went on a 22-2 run to jump out to 11-point lead, 65-54, with just over five minutes left to play.
CU outlasted Georgetown down the stretch, despite GC cutting the margin to four points late.
"Our seniors stepped up and I am so proud of them," said CU head coach
Ginger Colvin. "When we were down by 10 points and came back it was a resilient effort. It's hard to come back from being 10 down to a good Georgetown team. But we did it and overcame the obstacle."
Campbellsville (30-3) advances to the NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championships, which will be played March 19-25 at the Frankfort Convention Center in Frankfort, Ky. The bracket for the show will be announced Wednesday, March 12 during the live selection show on
NAIA.org at 8 p.m. EDT.
During the decisive run, Campbellsville shot 8-for-14 from the field and scored on 11-of-13 possessions. Georgetown went ice cold during the same fateful nine minutes going 0-for-11 from the field with three turnovers.
Campbellsville won the game despite not hitting a 3-pointer in the contest and being outscored from deep 24-0. It was the second game this season the Lady Tigers were held without a 3. Campbellsville converted 23-of-33 free throws, outscoring its opponents by 17 at the charity stripe, including six free throws in the final moments some key free throws late by seniors
Hayley Hellyer,
Katie Allen and
Ellen Sholtes to ice the game.
"I told Katie and Hayley before the game we have a picture of them (as freshmen) in the 2011 championship game on the bench," said Colvin. "I told them I wanted to get a picture of them playing in the game and winning it. They both stepped up when we needed it. It was a total team effort."
The seniors led Campbellsville throughout the game.
Georgetown shot a blistering 62 percent from the floor to take a 19-16 lead with 8:39 left in the first half.
But Campbellsville recaptured the lead after senior Mary Jehlik scored 10 straight points for CU and brought the Lady Tiger faithful to their feet.
Haley Armstrong, who came in averaging four points a game, took over for Georgetown. The sophomore knocked down four 3-pointers in the first half and hit two free throws to push Georgetown to its largest lead in the half of six points with 1:34 left. Georgetown shot 5-for-7 (71 percent) from 3 in the half.
Campbellsville held her to only four second-half points, giving her 17.
"We were more aggressive in the second half after playing slightly timid when Georgetown went ahead. But we did not falter down the stretch," said Colvin.
Tianna McCune was the difference maker in the paint for Georgetown. In the previous matchup on Jan. 8, McCune finished with eight blocks and her impact caused havoc for CU's post game. McCune blocked three shots in the first half and Campbellsville struggled to make an adjustment, trailing 37-34 at the break.
Georgetown took it to Campbellsville in the first six minutes of the second half. But Kristen Jacob sparked the CU Lady Tigers off the bench, scoring five quick points, picking up two rebounds and adding in a block on McCune.
"The beautiful thing is that's a sophomore," said Colvin. "She got great experience. She gave us a boost and is so competitive. She sparked up and it's great to see."
The CU Lady Tigers hit the offensive glass in the second half and finished with 17 offensive boards. CU converted on the extra attempts, scoring 23 second-chance points. Campbellsville out-rebounded Georgetown 41-35 for the game.
Ellen Sholtes gave the Lady Tigers their first lead since the 4:06 mark in the first half, 55-54, and Campbellsville eventually jumped to a seven-point lead, 61-54 with six minutes left in regulation.
"Ellen has one of the most explosive first steps in the game," said Colvin. "When she can get to the rim we are a really good basketball team and she got to the rim the past two games and we played really well."
Georgetown went without a field goal for nearly 10 minutes and only scored two points on two free throws by Lizza Jones. Devanny King finally ended that skid for GC with a layup with 4:52 left but CU still led by nine points, 65-56.
King ended with 18 points to lead Georgetown, as she shot 9-for-15 total from the floor and also picked up a team-leading eight rebounds.
With 5:57 left in the game and Campbellsville leading by nine points, 63-54, the CU got caught with the shot clock running down but Colvin called a timeout to set up a play with only three seconds remaining on the 30 second clock.
She drew up a back screen for
Mary Jehlik at the top of the key and
Katie Allen hit the streaking Jehlik under the basket to bring the Lady Tiger faithful to their feet again. Among them was the Lady Tiger Softball team which stopped for the game on its way back from playing in the Gulf Coast Invitational in Alabama.
Campbellsville now has three 30-win seasons under Colvin in her seven years with the last coming after winning the MSC Tournament in 2011
Georgetown (21-8) will also advance to the NAIA Championships in Frankfort based on the conference receiving two automatic bids. GC earns the conference's second automatic as runner-up of the tournament after Campbellsville won both the regular season and tournament titles.
