For the second consecutive year, the Sharks women’s basketball team made the Elite-8 of the NCAA Division II Women’s Basketball Championship Tournament. This year’s Elite-8 started on March 25 and took place at the Erie Insurance Arena at Gannon University in Erie, Penn.
In the first game, the Sharks, crowned South Region Champions on March 17, were matched up with Concordia-St. Paul, Central Region Champions. The Golden Bears entered the game with a 28-8 record after defeating Emporia State University to win the Central Region.
The Sharks came in 27-4 after defeating the University of Tampa to become the South Region Champs.
The Sharks began the game strong and held control throughout the game. Although there were a few times when Concordia-St. Paul made it close, they were never able to quite close the gap.
The Sharks were led by Amanda Burakoski, senior forward, who came off the bench to tie a career high in points with 27, to go along with 11 rebounds. Danielle Robinson, junior guard, added 14 points and Jessica Russi, senior guard, chipped in 11 points of her own.
The Sharks didn’t have its best game shooting the ball from the field, shooting only 29 percent, but they did a great job cleaning up the glass, grabbing 60 total rebounds, not allowing the Golden Bears to get many second-chance opportunities, only five.
In the end, the Sharks were able to walk out of the gym that afternoon with a 72-64 win, advancing to the programs first ever Final Four appearance.
The Sharks’ game was the second of four games played on March 25. The first game saw West Texas A&M, South-central Region champions, defeat Limestone College, Southeast Region champions, to move onto the Final Four.
The Final Four match-up between NSU and West Texas A&M took place March 26 at 6 p.m. The other Final Four game pit California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, West Region champions, against undefeated Bentley University, East Region champions.
The Lady Buffs of West Texas A&M started the game against the Sharks red hot, making their first three 3-pointers all made by Lacee Logan. The Sharks played tentatively, trying too hard not to make mistakes instead of just playing loose and comfortable as they had been all season. They came looking like they were trying not to lose instead of trying to playing to win.
The shaky play by the Sharks allowed the Lady Buffs to go into halftime with a 15-point lead, 42-27. And it didn’t get any better to start the second half. West Texas A&M was able to stretch their lead to 26, 68-42, with 10 minutes to go in the game.
Taylor Buie, sophomore guard, led the Sharks in scoring with 21 points, including five 3-pointers, to go along with four assists. Burakoski had 14 points off the bench and Russi, who led the nation in assists per game, had eight assists.
Devin Griffin and Chontiquah White each had double-doubles for the Lady Buffs, Griffin with 16 points and 14 rebounds and White had a game high in both categories 26 points and 17 rebounds. Logan also had 15 points including four 3-pointers.
Even though the season ended two wins shy of becoming national champions, the season was successful for the program. The past two years has seen the women’s team go further than they have ever gone before.
For seniors like Riki Carach, Amanda Burakoski, Jessica Russi and Julia Salmio this was one of their last games for NSU but they have nothing to be upset or disappointed about. Since they came in four years ago, these players have helped build the women’s basketball team to one of the best in the country. If this steady pattern continues for Head Coach LeAnn Freeland, it will only be a matter of time before the Sharks will be celebrating a national championship of their own.
