Posted by Gregory Ruff - Tue, Mar 24, 2009 - [Women's Basketball] - Viewed 874 times
Click for Championship Box ScoreJACKSON, Tenn. - No. 1-seeded Union (Tenn.) University claimed its fourth NAIA
Division I women's basketball championship with a 73-63 victory over
one of the tournament's other No. 1 seeds, Lambuth (Tenn.) University,
Tuesday night at Oman Arena. Two-time NAIA Player of the Year Josephine
Owino led the Lady Bulldogs with 27 points, nine rebounds and five
blocks in a game Union never trailed.
Owino
scored the game's first four points, and back-to-back three-pointers
from Kayla Hudson and Kaitlin Dudley capped a game-opening 15-3 run for
Union.
NAIA Division 1 Women's Basketball All-Americans
The Lady Bulldogs ran the first-half lead up to 13 points three
separate times before Chytearra Kintchen scored five straight points to
spark a 12-3 Lambuth run that cut Union's lead to 29-25 with 1:22 to
play before halftime. However, Dudley knocked down a triple with 1:03
left, and Hudson hit a trey with less than 10 seconds to give the Lady
Bulldogs a 35-25 halftime lead.
A
pair of Kintchen free throws early in the second half pulled Lambuth to
within six point at 43-37, but Owino answered with back-to-back
buckets that started a 16-6 run that gave Union its largest lead of the
game, 59-43, with 9:34 to play. Lambuth twice cut the lead to nine
points, but Union answered both times on the ensuing possession to push
the lead back into double digits to hold off the Eagles for the victory.
Kintchen
led all scorers with 30 points, making five-of-10 three-pointers for
Lambuth, and she scored 20 points in the second half. Maegan Sanders
and Rachel Cunningham each tallied nine points for the Eagles, and
Yolanda Johnson finished with eight points and a team-high six
rebounds. Lambuth committed just nine turnovers in the game, but shot
31 percent (22-for-70) from the field, including a 23 percent
(seven-for-30) clip from beyond the three-point arc.
Dudley
was four-for-eight from three-point range, and she scored 12 of her 18
points in the second half for Union. Hudson registered 11 points with a
pair of treys, and she dished out a game-high six assists. Union posted
identical 13-for-28 (.464) shooting in each half, and the Lady Bulldogs
hit six-of-14 on three-pointers.
Union
(37-1) has now won each of its past four NAIA title game appearances,
and the Lady Bulldogs are now 54-16 all-time in NAIA Tournament play.
Over the past five seasons, Union is 21-2 in the national tournament.
Lambuth, which won the 2007 national title after posting a 66-64 win
over Union in the semifinals, finishes its season with a final overall
record of 29-6.
Attendance
for Tuesday night's championship game was 4,512, bringing the
tournament's final attendance total to 22,206 (Wednesday 3,776;
Thursday 3,415; Friday 4,323; Saturday 2,965; Monday 3,215).
29th Annual NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship Awards
Tournament MVP
Josephine Owino, Union (Tenn.) University
All-Tournament First Team
Josephine Owino, Union (Tenn.) University
Chelsea Ledbetter, Oklahoma City University
Kaitlin Dudley, Union (Tenn.) University
Chytearra Kintchen, Lambuth (Tenn.) University
Taujhnae Travis, Oklahoma Baptist University
All-Tournament Second Team
Lauren Gregory, Vanguard (Calif.) University
Amanda Franz, Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.) University
Katie Nelson, Lee (Tenn.) University
Amber Neace, University of the Cumberlands (Ky.)
Holly Hardin, Oklahoma City University
Hustle Award
Chytearra Kintchen, Lambuth (Tenn.) University
Phyllis Holmes Coach of the Year
Mark Campbell, Union (Tenn.) University
