(Peoria, IL) — In a tournament full of upsets, the ninth-seeded Monroe Mustangs women’s basketball team pulled off perhaps the biggest of the tournament Thursday night with a 64-50 win over #1 Johnson County (KS). With a large crowd looking on at the Division II Women’s National Tournament being held this week in Peoria, IL, the defending national champion Mustangs defended a barrage of three-point attempts to defeat the Cavaliers (Johnson County was 9/48 from the arc). Prior to tonight, Johnson County had only lost one game all season. With the win the Mustangs move on in the semifinal round Friday night at 8:00pm (9:00pm NY time) against Louisburg (NC). Box score
“We try never to pay too much attention to the seeding of the teams,” said coach James Robinson Jr, who was an assistant when the eleventh-seeded Mustangs won the national title last year. “We have the confidence that if we play our style of basketball and we play hard to the very end, we can compete with any team. But make no mistake, this is a huge win for us because we are one step closer to reaching our goal of repeating as champs.”
The Mustangs showed what preparation and a sense of urgency can do for a team’s defense. Monroe held the Cavaliers (#16 in the nation in scoring at 74 ppg) to just 22% from the field while contesting an astounding 48 three point attempts taken by Johnson County. Monroe also out-rebounded the Cavaliers 58-50 thanks in part to a huge effort by 6-5 sophomore Verdine Warner. Warner pulled down a game high 17 rebounds. She finished with five points and three blocks.
Just as in Tuesday’s game against Prarie State, the Mustangs had to overcome an early deficit. Monroe found themselves down 11-3 to start the game, but fought back to take their first lead of the game at 20-19. Monroe continued to build on the lead and never trailed again. On the shoulders of Kashay Barnes (game high 21 points, including five three-pointers), Aivah Parham (18 points and four rebounds) and Jasmine McRoy (12 points, seven rebounds and five assists) the Mustangs extended their lead to as much as 22 points.
The victory was second time in the last two years Monroe has defeated the #1 seeded team in the national tournament. Last year, the Mustangs beat undefeated #1 Pima in the national championship game.
Monroe is now 29-6 on the season.
