SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Coming into Friday's NCAA Division II Championship game, unranked California Baptist University hadn't been dealt much adversity. The Lancers had steamrolled through their opponents, beating them by an average margin of 17.0 points, but still no one expected them to be competing for the Division II title.
 
After exceeding expectations to make it to the finale, the Lancers found themselves on the opposite end of the deficit, down 48-28 at halftime. With 20 minutes left to play, the Lancers showed heart and battled back, but couldn't overcome the hole to fall 86-69.

"I'm really proud of the season we had," said head coach Jarrod Olson. "It was very exciting to make it all the way to the championship game, we obviously just wish the game had gone a bit better, but that's how things work. I'm really thankful for all the support we got along the way, from administrators, fans, family, Sioux Falls. We had a lot of kids at the game from the elementary school we visited earlier in the week. It was exciting to be somewhere we could really make an impact on other people and the support they gave us was proof of that."
 
The Lancers finish the historic year with a 29-7 record, while the Vulcans finish 32-4.
 
Darsha Burnside continued her dominant play and etched herself in the record book. Coming into the game with 114 blocks on the season, she needed just four to set a new single-season record. She swiped six on the night to take over the top spot with 120, which was previously set by Sonja Akkerman (117) back in 1991.

"Now I have to beat it next year," said Burnside.
 
The junior also finished the night with 27 points (11-for-19) and 12 rebounds to end the year with 25 double-doubles on the year, earning herself a spot on the Elite 8 All-Tournament team.
 
Kamille Diaz also finished in double-digits with 18 points on 8-for-16 shooting. Courtney Nelson followed with 15 points (7-for-15) and also earned all-tournament honors.
 
Cal U scored the first two points of the night, the Lancers responded with an impressive 11-0 run to jump out in front. Nelson scored five unanswered points to put CBU in front 7-2 and two free throws from Cassidy Mihalko capped the run before the Vulcans stopped the scoring spree.
 
After opening with the 11-2 lead, CBU ran into some trouble as shots weren't falling. Meanwhile, Cal U couldn't stop hitting to build a 48-28 advantage at the break.

"I didn't feel like we were really competing defensively in the first half like we needed to and had been doing so for the past couple weeks," said Olson. "We talked about that a lot and one of our big challenges we made for ourselves all season was to hit the reset button and try to refocus. We talked about coming out in the second half and competing as hard as we can regardless of the score."
 
While it had been a while, CBU had faced adversity before, overcoming a 17-point deficit to Point Loma on the road back in January to win 80-70. With 20 minutes left to play and the first-ever NCAA Division II title on the line, CBU knew it needed to get back to its style of ball and work its way back into the game.
 
Coming out of halftime, the Lancers looked ready to claw their way back into the game. Nelson grabbed an offensive board to rattle in a jump shot and stole the ball away to put Diaz on a fast break to cut the score to 55-42 with 15:09 to play.
 
The Lancers continued to chip away at the margin, getting back into their groove. Burnside finished an and-one and then banked in a shot off the glass to put the game very much within reach at 57-49.
 
Cal U put its cushion back into double-digits at 61-49, but CBU still had 11:01 to make its move. The Vulcans tried to keep the Lancers at bay, building back its double-digit lead, 74-57, just before the two teams headed down the stretch. Nelson kept her team in it, sinking in a jumper and Burnside showed her strength at the post to cut the margin to 12 points.
 
With a minute left in the game, CBU sent the Vulcans to the line but they finished the clutch chances to walk away with the game, 86-69, and claim their second championship. 

"It was amazing just playing with this team," said Nelson. "We started as a team and ended as a team and at halftime we came together and knew we had to reset because we didn't want to go out not showing people what we're made of. No one believed we were going to make it here and I feel like we were able to prove some people wrong and made history as a team."