Indiana South Bend Sweeps For The Second Year In A Row
SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- NAIA No. 19-ranked Indiana University South Bend pulled off its second straight sweep of both the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles with its 91-87 victory over Olivet Nazarene University in the tournament championship game on Saturday afternoon.
Despite trailing by as many as 17 points in the first quarter, the pesky No. 7-seeded Tigers never went away throughout the contest. They opened the contest by scoring the first five points before IUSB responded with 25 of the next 28 markers in building a 25-10 advantage after the first quarter. Maddie Gard was the key force in the period, totaling 13 of her 17 points in the initial ten minutes.
From there, it was a game of catch-up for ONU (16-15), which shot just 21.4 percent in the first quarter (3-for-14). The rest of the contest saw the Tigers convert at a 58.3 percent clip (28-for-48), including a 13-of-19 effort (68.4 percent) in the fourth quarter.
Olivet Nazarene would get the deficit down to six points by halftime (38-32) before using a 9-0 run late in the third quarter to get within 56-54 with one minute remaining in the period. Indiana South Bend would stretch the lead back up to double figures with 3:27 to play in the game (79-69) courtesy of its own 9-2 push.
Nonetheless, ONU would still not go away, making it a three-point game (85-82) with 42 seconds remaining before the Titans scored on each of their last three possessions of the game to seal the title.
IUSB proved clutch down the stretch, shooting 72.7 percent from the field in the fourth quarter (8-of-11) and making 13 of its 15 free-throw attempts. The Titans closed out the game with 12 straight free throws made over the final 5:07. Tenleigh Phelps (8 rebounds) rose to the occasion in the final period, going 6-for-7 with two three-pointers and making all five of her free throws in totaling 19 of her game-high 30 points over the final 10 minutes.
Like it did one game earlier, Indiana South Bend won the game at the foul line, where it outscored Olivet Nazarene 28-10. The Titans also held a 39-28 rebounding advantage.
Olivet Nazarene made things interesting by outscoring the hosts 27-10 in points off turnovers. The Tigers also shot 50 percent from the field (31-of-62) and 40.5 percent from three-point range (15-of-37). They were led by Khendel Rolison's 22 points. She went 9-for-14 from the field with three treys in six attempts.
Preslee Michael added another 19 markers, hitting each of her four three-point attempts and going 6-for-8 from the field overall.
Four of five Indiana South Bend starters scored in double figures. Besides Phelps and Maddie Gard, the others were Jazmen Watts (19 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals) and Katie Gard (14 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals).
Indiana South Bend (30-1) now advances to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round along with second-place regular-season finisher Governors State University. That tournament runs March 15-16 at 16 different sites with four teams each.
The final 64-team field and bracket will be announced on Thursday, March 7 at 7:00 p.m. CT on the NAIA Youtube Channel.
The final results follow:
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Game #1: No. 1 seed Indiana South Bend 77, No. 8 Seed St. Francis 60
Game #2: No. 5 seed Indiana Northwest 57, No. 4 seed Roosevelt 54
Game #3: No. 7 seed Olivet Nazarene 83, No. 2 seed Governors State 74
Game #4: No. 6 seed Holy Cross 87, No. 3 seed Saint Xavier 78
Thursday, February 29, 2024 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #5: No. 1 Seed Indiana South Bend 77, No. 5 Seed Indiana Northwest 66
Game #6: No. 7 Seed Olivet Nazarene 73, No. 6 Seed Holy Cross 72
Saturday, March 2, 2024 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #7: No. 1 Seed Indiana South Bend 91, No. 7 Seed Olivet Nazarene 87