#1 Governors State and #3 St. Francis Set To Meet For Women's Basketball Tournament Crown
CHICAGO --- Top-seeded Governors State University will square off against No. 3 seed University of St. Francis for the 2025 Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament championship after the two teams earned semifinal-round victories on Friday night. The title game will take place Monday night at GSU's Athletics & Recreation Center.
Governors State (25-5) got past No. 4 Indiana University Northwest for the second time in a little over a week by a 77-67 count, while St. Francis (24-6) pulled off the first upset of the tournament by defeating No. 2 Olivet Nazarene University 76-74.
The contest will be the third meeting between the two schools with each team winning on their home court. The Jaguars claimed the first win 71-67 on Jan. 8 with St. Francis rallying for a 73-71 win in Joliet on Feb. 13.
Should St. Francis win the crown on Monday night, the Saints would gain the league's second automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round. Should Governors State claim victory, Olivet Nazarene University would lock up the second bid by virtue of placing second during the conference regular season. Governors State earned the first bid by securing the program's first regular-season title last week.
Recapping Friday:
Governors State 77, Indiana Northwest 67
A 14-0 run during the second half of the third quarter allowed Governors State to finally break away from Indiana Northwest after the two teams went back and forth for the first 25 minutes of the 40-minute affair. The RedHawks did put together one late rally to get to within 71-67 with 35 seconds remaining, but could not get any closer. Four of five Jaguars scored in double figures, led by Zareia Chevre's 21 points and six rebounds. Tabetha Jones also had a huge game with her 19 points, eight rebounds and nine assists. The pair helped the Jaguars shoot 50 percent from the field (29-of-58) to go along with 14 made free throws in 16 attempts (87.5 pct.). Governors State also held a 43-27 rebounding advantage over IUN, which was led by Jessica Carrothers' 32 points, five rebounds and four assists.
St. Francis 76, Olivet Nazarene 74
Olivet Nazarene led by a 71-61 count with 5:18 remaining in the contest before St. Francis went off with the next 11 points over a two-minute span to take a 72-71 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the contest. The hosts regained the lead (74-72) a few seconds later at the 2:58 mark, but would not score again the rest of the night. Laurelei Thormeyer delivered in a big way down the stretch for St. Francis, tying the game on a pair of free throws with 42 seconds remaining and then delivering the assist on Le'lani Harris' game-winning basket with 2.6 seconds to play. Thormeyer finished with 17 points and eight assists. Olivet Nazarene did get one last chance to tie the game, but missed with an inside shot as time expired. USF's Abby Shepard led all scorers with 23 points and eight rebounds off the bench. She also totaled seven treys. Brooklyn Marshall led Olivet Nazarene with 17 points. ONU forced 30 St. Francis turnovers, but the Saints overcame that by winning the rebounding battle 50-36 and shooting .466 from the field (27-58) and .438 from long range (14-of-32) compared to ONU's marks of .351 overall (26-of-74) and .259 beyond the arc (7-of-27).
The complete results and remaining schedule follow:
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Game #1: No. 1 seed Governors State 73, No. 8 seed Viterbo 53
Game #2: No. 4 seed Indiana Northwest 77, No. 5 seed Saint Xavier 72 --- OT
Game #3: No. 2 seed Olivet Nazarene 92, No. 7 seed Holy Cross 90
Game #4: No. 3 seed St. Francis 92, No. 6 seed Indiana South Bend 66
Friday, February 28, 2025 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #5: No. 1 seed Governors State 77, No. 4 seed Indiana Northwest 67
Game #6: No. 3 seed St. Francis 76, No. 2 seed Olivet Nazarene 74
Monday, March 3, 2025 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #7: No. 3 seed St. Francis (24-6) at No. 1 seed Governors State (25-5) --- 5:30 pm