Notes, observations and other thoughts about basketball played at 38th and Central...

Women's Basketball – 86-57 win vs. Lincoln Land

JOPLIN, MO – For the second straight year, Morton College shook off the disappointment of a tough quarterfinal loss and rebounded to put themselves in position to do something very few teams can say they did – end the season with a win.

The Panthers utilized their superior speed advantage to counter Lincoln Land's height, leading from start to finish in an 86-57 fifth-place semifinal contest victory this afternoon at the NJCAA Division II women's basketball national tournament.

Morton College (32-4) plays Iowa Western (33-3) for fifth place at 2 p.m. tomorrow (Saturday, March 23^rd). This marks the Panthers' second straight appearance in this contest.

Morton College immediately put the previous night's 88-78 loss to Kirkwood in the rear-view mirror as Nariah Clay connected on a three-pointer. The Panthers shot 65 percent (11 of 17) in racing out to a 27-14 first-quarter lead.

"I guess the main thing you see is the character of this team after a very disappointing night," Morton College coach Jeff Bambule said. "A lot of people could just have packed it in. They certainly didn't. They came out ready to play and they played hard, just like they have every day this season."

Clay again was deadly from three, making three three-pointers in the first quarter and 5 of 9 for the contest in ending up with 17 points. The freshman has made 11 of 18 from three in Morton College's last two games.

Thanks to the likes of Alex Stewart (22 points, five rebounds), Shanihya Brown (15 points) and Brynne Katcher (eight points, 10 rebounds), the Panthers got easy basket after easy basket in making 75 percent (24 of 32) from two-point range.

In one instance, Brown zipped past all five Lincoln Land defenders for an easy layup. The sophomore guard was 6 of 8 from the floor. If Stewart didn't score off a slashing drive to the hoop, the freshman was fouled and connected on 5 of 6 free throws. She scored 18 of her 22 points in the middle two quarters.

"It was definitely a clash of styles," Bambule noted. "They definitely wanted to be methodical, get the ball inside and play at a slower pace. We wanted to play at a faster pace. We were able to play at our pace, so that was to our advantage."

The Panthers kept their foot on the gas pedal, extending their lead to 49-33 at halftime and 66-49 after three quarters. Morton College, which shot 51 percent overall (34 of 67) also had four players in double figure with Caroline Clemmer chipping in a dozen points with a pair of three-pointers.

Morton College's 10 three-pointers extended its streak of double-digit games with a three to a season-best seven contests. The Panthers have had 10 or more threes in 13 of their last 14 games.

Taylor Marquart added seven points and eight rebounds. Sophia Remmel and Antionique Auston showed there's others way to contribute besides scoring. Auston had a game-high six assists to go along with four rebounds and three steals. Remmel came up with four assists and four steals.

"When you have some many good players, it's a luxury," Bambule said. "Sometimes one person steps up and sometimes, it's another person. You really can't key on one person. That's really been the strength of our team."

Sophomore Jacquelin Magallanes has provided the Panthers with another source of strength through leadership this year. The walk-on closed the scoring for Morton College on a three-point play with 1:16 to go. She later banked in a three-pointer, but it was ruled a shot-clock violation.

"I think we just took what we had and we played a really great game," Katcher said. "We had that really great run at the end (against Kirkwood), so we took that energy and decided to put that into today's game. We wanted to make the most of this opportunity and end our season with a win."