Final notes, observations and other thoughts about basketball played at 38th and Central for the 2023-24 season...

Women's Basketball – 75-67 win vs. Iowa Western

JOPLIN, MO – Morton College's Shanihya Brown packed the wrong color uniform, but the 5-4 sophomore guard rebounded from a fashion faux pas to help the Panthers claim fifth place for a second straight year at the NJCAA Division women's basketball national tournament in flying colors.

With the Panthers (33-4) clinging to a three-point lead in the final minute of this afternoon's game against Iowa Western, Brown had the green light to shoot and that she did, burying a three-pointer with 50.3 seconds left to secure Morton College's 75-67 win.

"Shanihya's got ice water in her veins," Morton College coach Jeff Bambule said. "She hit a humongous three."

Brown attributed the mix up to confusion over a group text as to what color uniforms to bring.

"The colors kept changing," Brown explained. "The last text was blue."

Enough of Project Runway and back to basketball. But as Project Runway's Tim Gunn would say, "Make it work, make it work…" So Brown did.

"I knew we needed the momentum and the points," Brown said. "I thought I heard the countdown (on the shot clock), so I was going to let it ride."

The possession was classic Morton College with all five players touching the ball before Brynne Katcher found Brown all alone in the left corner. It highlighted a fantastic fourth quarter by Brown, who scored seven of her 12 points, took a charge and came up with a big offensive rebound that resulted in a three-pointer from all-tournament selection Nariah Clay that stretched the Panther lead to 62-57.

And the win was classic Morton College with all eight who played making a valuable contribution at one time or another.

"We all contributed in a different way, whether it was defense, offense, rebounds or the bench being loud," Brown observed.

While Bambule assessed the Panthers, he paused and asked, "Who am I leaving out?"

We'll try to help here with this highlight breakdown:

Antionique Auston – 8 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists
Auston launched a 30-footer that beat the third-quarter buzzer for a momentum-shifting three-pointer that extended the Panther lead to 57-53. It was one of two three-pointers by Auston in the quarter. There's a great picture of Auston on the NJCAA Photo Gallery page showing the clock and trajectory of her shot before going in.

"Antionique hit a big three," Bambule said.

Shanihya Brown – 12 points, 2 assists
She transferred in from Wabash Valley, which went 31-2 and lost in the NJCAA Division I quarterfinals a year ago.

"I loved being part of the program," Brown said. "I didn't think I contributed to the success at my last school. I felt I did here."

Nariah Clay – 18 points, 4 of 9 from 3, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 3 assists
The national tournament was a coming-out party for the freshman, who opened the eyes of a number of coaches from four-year schools. Clay had a three-pointer in every quarter.

Clay averaged 18.5 points per game and shot 52 percent from three-point range, making 15 of 29. She finished second in the nation with 115 threes, five behind runner-up Johnson County's Saige Grampsas' 120.

Clay also intercepted an inbounds pass from the Iowa Western baseline that turned into Auston's third-quarter ending three-pointer and set the screen on Stewart's uncontested layup late in the game.

Caroline Clemmer – 9 points, 3 of 3 on three-pointers
The sophomore guard gave the Panthers a big boost in the second quarter, scoring half of Morton College's 18 points by shooting 3 of 3 from three-point range to stake the Panthers to a 41-36 halftime lead.

Clemmer ended the season by making a three-pointer in 15 consecutive games and 28 contests overall.

"I thought everybody played good today," Clemmer said. "Everybody gave their best effort."

Brynne Katcher – 9 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists
Katcher, the team leader with 13 double doubles, toyed with two more in nationals against Iowa Western and Lincoln Land. The freshman NJCAA All-America candidate averaged 10.5 points and 7.8 rebounds at nationals, but her passing also stood out, too. Toward the end of the Iowa Western game, Katcher had the assist on Brown's big three-pointer and Stewart's wide-open layup.

"I thought Brynne did a great job all year," Clemmer said.,

Taylor Marquart – 3 points, 5 rebounds, 1 steal
Iowa Western had just taken a 53-51 lead late in the third quarter when Marquart responded with her only points of the game on a three-pointer to put Morton College back on top at 54-53.

"Taylor was her usually self, battling all over," Bambule said. "She's not a 100 percent, but gave us a lot."

Sophia Remmel – 8 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 5 of 5 free throws
Remmel opened the scoring for Morton College with a three-pointer and wrapped up the first quarter by making all three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt to give the Panthers a 23-20 lead. She also made two free throws with 1:23 to go to boost the Panther lead to 68-62.

Alex Stewart – 8 points, 4 rebounds, 2 steals
Stewart's ability to slash to the basket and hit the three-point shot came to light at nationals. The freshman got off to a quick start with six first-quarter points and then didn't score again until the fourth quarter. It was off the screen set by Clay that freed Stewart for a wide-open layup.

"Alex was Alex," Bambule said. "She was all over the place as well."

Stewart scored a career-high 22 points against Lincoln Land at nationals. She averaged 15 points per game in Joplin, shooting 46.8 percent (22 of 47) from the floor and 36.3 percent (8 of 22) from three. In four games, Stewart had 16 rebounds, 7 assists and 5 steals.

Offense-defense
Today's Morton College-Iowa Western game was all over the map. After the first quarter with Morton College ahead 23-20, things were on an 80-point pace.

With Morton College playing for the third time in as many days and Iowa Western for the second time in three days, it's a challenge to maintain that kind of pace. Morton College had an unheard-of two shot clock violations on back-to-back possession in the fourth quarter. Each team had just two made free throws in the opening four minutes of the final stanza.

Iowa Western finally got the quarter's first basket at the 5:15 mark. Clay's three 30 seconds later was Morton College's first hoop of the stanza. Both teams struggled offensively the last 10 minutes with the Panthers making 4 of 11 attempts for 36 percent and the Reivers, 4 of 12 for 33 percent.

"This was a good team we played," said Bambule of Iowa Western. "They were very athletic and quick and made things difficult on you. It showed – we had a long spurt where didn't score. But we found a way to preserve through adversity. In this case, the adversity was our scoreless five minutes. But we found a way to make plays when it mattered."

Balanced offense
Morton College's first-half numbers showed a balanced offensive attack. The Panthers were both 7 of 18 from two and 7 of 18 from three.

Free throw success
The Panthers shot 80 percent or better from the free-throw line in three tournament games. Morton College was 30 of 37 for 81 percent vs. Harcum, 8 of 9 for 89 percent vs. Lincoln Land and 14 of 15 for 93 percent against Iowa Western.

Final national rankings
Points per game (offense) – 87.5 (4^th)
Points per game (defense) – 51.7 (7^th)

A first in the last game
Morton College had only two players in Clay (18) and Brown (12) score in double figures against Iowa Western. This was the first time all season the Panthers didn't have three or more players in doubles. Five others came close to scoring in doubles with nine points from both Katcher and Clemmer and eight apiece from Remmel, Stewart and Auston.

Milestone threes
Morton College led the nation again in made three-pointers with 444. The Panthers have made 912 threes the past two years and 1,306 the last three.

Veteran Kirkwood coach Kim Muhl, who picked up his ninth national title this year, and the Iowa Western staff looked what could be described as a look of great interest and amazement watching the Panthers' approach to shooting in pre-game warmups.

Three-pointer No. 900 the past two years came from Remmel in the first quarter. Three-pointer No. 1,300 over the last three seasons was made by Clemmer during her second-quarter shooting show.

The Panthers made 13 three-pointers against Iowa Western and had 50 in four tournament games. They ended the season with eight straight games with 10 or more three-pointers. Of Morton College's last 15 games, the Panthers rang up double digits in threes 14 times.

Morton College was the first team in 61 games to post 10-plus threes on Harcum. The Panthers' 16 three against national champ Kirkwood was the most the Eagles yielded since March of 2020.

Success, success
Morton College's 33 wins is the second-most in school history behind last season's 34-1 edition. The Panthers reached the 30-win plateau for the third straight year and are 97-8 with a winning percentage of .924.

On taking the fifth
Morton College now has a runner-up and two fifth-place endings at nationals. The quarterfinal setback to Kirkwood forced the Panthers to reassess their goals.

"It wasn't what you wanted, but you know what?" Bambule asked. "We reassessed our goals after Kirkwood and our goals was to finish fifth. That's what we did last year. Of course, you want to win the whole thing, but what a great tournament.

"There was tremendous competition. Any number of teams could have won it. You got to be good and lucky, have things go your way. Three of the games, they did, and in one game, they didn't."