GAME TWO: FERRIS 80, GANNON 61
Ferris Advances To Regional Final For First Time With Semifinal Victory
Romeoville, Ill. - The Ferris State University women's basketball team advanced on to the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Championship Game with a dramatic 80-61 win over Gannon Saturday (March 10) evening in Lewis University's Neil Carey Arena at Romeoville, Ill.
The seventh-seeded Bulldogs jumped out to a 16-point halftime advantage over the sixth-seeded Knights. FSU, which upset second-seeded Northern Kentucky 70-69 on a buzzer beater in Friday's (March 9) quarterfinals, then held on for the win.
 | The Bulldogs moved into the NCAA-II Sweet Sixteen for the first time ever with a regional semifinal win over Gannon |
The Knights cut the Bulldog lead down to only four points with 5:32 to go, but FSU sank 11 free throws in the final five minutes to preserve the win.
FSU advances into the regional championship game for the first time in school history following the program's second-ever tournament victory. The Bulldogs will take on fourth-seeded Drury (Mo.) on Monday (March 12) evening starting at 8 p.m. (EST). The Panthers upset top-seeded host Lewis in the second semifinal.
The Bulldogs used a balanced attack to top the Knights. Junior forward Rachel Folcik netted a game-high 16 points despite battling foul trouble. Senior guard Kristin Reinhart added 15 points, sophomore guard Teghan Thelen chipped in 14 points and junior guard/forward Sam Johns netted 11 points. Freshman forward/center Andrea Clancy made a valuable contribution in a reserve role with 11 points and eight rebounds.
The Knights, who concluded the year with a 25-6 overall record, were led by GLIAC Player of the Year Christina Jackson, who totaled 14 points and a game-high 15 boards.
Ferris held GU to a 29.9% shooting effort as the Knights made only six-of-28 (21.4%) three-point tries and were 15-of-23 (65.2%) from the free throw stripe. FSU also forced 21 turnovers.
The Bulldogs converted 47.3% (26-55) of their field goal attempts and hit 22-of-33 (66.7%) free throws. Ferris was six-of-12 (50.0%) behind the three-point line.
"It was a tremendous team effort and we're just so excited," said FSU head coach Tracey Bloodworth-Fisk. "They're a great shooting team, but we did a good job of contesting their shooters and a nice job on the perimeter.
"We had several players step up and make plays for us when we needed them."
The Bulldogs opened up a 12-2 lead to start the game and never trailed after Gannon took the initial 2-0 advantage.
With the win, the Bulldogs posted their school-record 23rd victory of the year (23-8).
The winner of Monday evening's regional championship game advances to the NCAA-II Elite Eight set for March 21-24 at the University of Nebraska at Kearney's Health and Sports Center in Kearney, Neb.
The complete boxscore can be found at this link:
http://www.ferris.edu/htmls/sports/bbwomen/0607stats/fsgame31.htm
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