GAME ONE: FERRIS 70, NORTHERN KENTUCKY 69
FSU Women's Basketball Picks Up First-Ever NCAA Tournament Win At Buzzer
Romeoville, Ill. - Sophomore guard Teghan Thelen scored on a short lay in as time expired to lift the Ferris State University women's basketball squad to its first-ever NCAA Division II Tournament victory over Northern Kentucky 70-69 Friday (March 9) afternoon in Great Lakes Regional quarterfinal-round action at Romeoville, Ill.
Thelen grabbed a loose ball underneath the basket and converted the layup off the glass with less than a second to play. Northern Kentucky had regained the lead with nine seconds to go on a layup by Angela Healy.
 | Head coach Tracey Bloodworth-Fisk and sophomore guard Teghan Thelen address the media following Thelen's buzzer-beating layup against Northern Kentucky |
"We're very excited right now and we beat a good team," Thelen said. "It was a great battle. I knew there wasn't much time left and I just grabbed the ball and threw it back up."
Senior guard Kristin Reinhart spearheaded a second-half Bulldog comeback with a game-high 22 points. Eighteen of her points came in the final 20 minutes of play. NKU led by three at halftime and by as many as 10 points in the first frame.
With the win, Ferris will advance to the NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional Tournament Semifinals to take on Gannon Saturday (March 10) starting at 6 p.m. (EST) in Lewis University's Neil Carey Arena at Romeoville. GU upset defending NCAA-II National Champion Grand Valley State in Friday's first quarterfinal-round contest.
"I'm proud of our kids - they competed extremely well," said FSU head coach Tracey Bloodworth-Fisk. "We beat a good team and never hung our heads when we got down."
Besides Reinhart's 22 points, Ferris also received 19 points and eight rebounds from junior forward/center Rachel Folcik. Thelen chipped in 12 points.
The Bulldogs managed to outrebounded a bigger Norse lineup 42-35 and had only 12 turnovers in the game. NKU turned the ball over 10 times.
FSU shot 40.3% from the floor and hit five-of-16 (31.3%) three-point tries. Ferris was seven-of-eight (87.5%) from the free throw line.
The Norse hit 46.4% of their field goal attempts and were five-of-11 (45.5%) behind the three-point arc. Northern Kentucky made 12-of-18 (66.7%) free throw tries.
Ferris entered the game as the region's seventh seed while NKU was the second overall seed in the field. Host Lewis is the top-seeded team in the event.
Northern Kentucky was paced offensively by Katie Butler, who totaled 15 points. Cassie Brannen added 14 points.
The complete boxscore can be found at this link:
http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/sports/bbwomen/0607stats/fsgame30.htm
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