#7 Alice Lloyd Lady Eagles fall to #6 Carolina University, 80-68 in NCCAA Women’s National Championship

Lady Eagles now play for third place against Oakland City University

Lake Winona, IN: On March 21st, the #7 seeded Alice Lloyd Lady Eagles faced the #6 seeded Carolina University Lady Bruins (NC) in the Semi-Final round of the winner's bracket in the NCCAA DI Women's National Championship. The Lady Eagles battled hard but fell behind and were defeated 80-68.

In the opening stanza, both clubs came out tight as they looked to get in a groove. Despite this, the quarter would end with the game knotted at 13-13.

The Caney Creek club remained cold in the second period while the North Carolina squad heated up. CU would pour in 28 points during the ten-minute span while holding the Bluegrass ladies to 13. This would propel Carolina to a 41-25 lead heading into intermission.

In the third quarter, the Pippa Passes crew looked inside to senior forward Madison Thompson and outside to senior guard Hannah Kash to rally the troops. Unfortunately, Lady Bruin DenAsia Mitchell would control the game for her club as they would not allow ALC to get within striking distance. When the buzzer ended the period, OCU extended their advantage to nineteen, 65-44.

In the final period, Kash did everything she could to bring the Lady Eagles back, as she pumped in 15 points. However, the deficit was simply too great to overcome, as Carolina held on for the 80-68 victory.

For Alice Lloyd (13-18), Kash would finish with a game-high 32 points on 12-23 shooting, including 8-12 from the charity line. She added 7 rebounds and 3 assists.

 In addition, junior guard Katie Jo Moore chipped in with 13 points and 5 rebounds, while freshman guard Abby Maggard contributed 10 points.

The Eastern Kentucky team finished shooting 38% (27-71) from the field and 18.2 (4-22) from long range. They also sank 62.5% (10-16) from the foul line while adding 37 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 blocks and 6 steals.

Mitchell paced the higher-seeded club (18-8) with 22 and 20 points respectively. Their squad finished shooting 45.6% (31-68) from the field, 44.4% (8-18) from behind the arc, and 50% (10-20) from the charity stripe. They also added 50 rebounds, 14 assists, 2 blocks and 6 steals.

 Alice Lloyd will now conclude their season Saturday at 3:00 pm when they face the #1 seeded Oakland City Lady Oaks in the third-place game. OCU, who is also a member of the River States Conference with ALC, was upset in the semi-finals 72-70 on a last-second shot by the host school, Grace University.