California Baptist University
New Haven
A Cinderella Story
3/23/2015 10:50:00 AM | Women's Basketball
It may be a Cinderella story for the Lancers, but they come into the Elite 8 in Sioux Falls, S.D., bringing some heat. CBU won the school's first-ever NCAA Division II West Region title last week in Alaska, defeating opponents by a margin of 19.3 points. The Lancers will look to stay hot after defeating the winner of the East Region, No. 23 New Haven on Tuesday, 86-77, as they take on No. 2 Limestone Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. Pacific.
ABOUT THE NCAA DII ELITE EIGHT
Only eight four teams remain in the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament: CBU, No. 23 New Haven, No. 4 Lewis, No. 2 Limestone, No. 9 Emporia, No. 14 California (PA), No. 5 West Texas A&M and No. 18 Nova Southeastern. CBU has never faced any of the remaining three teams in program history, but head coach Jarrod Olson is familiar with Emporia. It was there he began his coaching career back in 1997.
VENUE INFO
The NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship Elite Eight will be hosted at the Sanford Pentagon from Tuesday, March 24 to Friday, March 27. The Pentagon is 160,000 square feet with nine basketball/volleyball courts — six of which are high school size and the other three are collegiate/professional size. The eight teams will battle it out on Heritage Court, which seats 3,200 and has locker rooms designated for each team.
MULTIMEDIA
Fans can follow the action on the NCAA.com website with live stats. The semifinal and championship games will only be available on TV on the CBS Sports Network. Twitter updates will be provided by following @cbulancers.
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for the 2015 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Championship Elite Eight available to purchase online here. General Admission is $15, while Courtside Seats can be purchased for $25.
LANCER NOTES
CBU continues to defy odds and make history as the first Lancer program to guarantee a top-four finish in the NCAA Division II Championship and first PacWest team to make it to the Final Four. While some people have doubted the Lancers and thought their West Region title was luck, CBU is slowly changing those minds after beating No. 23 New Haven 86-77 Tuesday night.
"I just think it really fires us up that everyone thinks that it was luck that we got here," said sophomore guard Courtney Nelson. "We just have to prove everyone wrong."
Darsha Burnside had a monster game against the Chargers, grabbing her 23rd double-double of the season — ranking her fourth in all of NCAA Division II. She scored 27 points, just two away from a career-high, and added 16 rebounds. She also blocked five shots to move to 109 on the season, just nine away from setting a new program record for most blocks in a single season. Sonja Akkerman currently holds the record with 117 blocks set in 1990-91.
"We came this far [not to lose] and I just really wanted it," said Burnside of her performance. "My teammates did a nice job of getting me the ball and I believe in myself. I was just feeling it."
Burnside ranks fourth in the division with a 12.7 rebounds per game average to go along with her 14.2 ppg average. Her 3.41 blocks per game puts her fifth in the division as well.
Courtney Nelson leads the Lancers with a 15.3 ppg average, followed by fellow sophomore Cassidy Mihalko with 15.1 ppg. Kamille Diaz rounds out the four Lancers averaging double figures with 13.4 ppg. Diaz also tops the team by dishing out 4.6 assists per game, breaking into the top-50 of the NCAA Division II. Her 3.00 three-pointers per game also ranks in the division, making her the No. 9 threat from the perimeter.
SAINTS AT A GLANCE
No. 2 Limestone comes into tonight's matchup with a target on their back, holding a 33-game winning streak. Four Saints average double figures led by Jasmine Kearse with 15.2 ppg. Alicia Brookins follows with 13.9 ppg and Celestra Warren and Ayshia McNeil round out the quartet with 13.1 ppg and 10.4 ppg, respectively. Limestone had to come from behind Tuesday night after trailing for nearly all of the game's first 30 minutes, but won the game 61-58.
