LEWISTON, Idaho – The No. 23 Lewis-Clark State women's basketball team is Billings, Mont. bound to compete at the 2019 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball Championship beginning Mar. 13. The Warrior women will take on No. 9 William Penn (Iowa) on Mar. 13 at 12:45 p.m. LC is No. 6 seed in the Naismith Bracket, and William Penn is seeded third.
The Warriors ended the Statesmen's season back in 2017, defeating them 59-45 at the NAIA Championship Tournament.
FULL BRACKET
The Warriors – 20-11
With their win in the Frontier Conference Quarterfinals, the Warriors now have 20 wins on the season (20-11). LC went 9-9 in conference play to earn fourth seed in the conference playoffs before falling to No. 4 Montana Western in the semifinals.
In non-conference play the Warriors went 11-2, including wins No. 5 The Master's and No. 8 Westmont. Both games were on the road during a stretch of five-straight away games. LC went 4-1 on the trip, falling only to Montana Western. The Warriors pulled off an upset against the Montana Western Bulldogs in their final meeting of the regular season, taking the contest 68-63 in Dillon, Mont.
The Warriors have been led all season by senior
Jossilyn Blackman. The senior was recently named First-Team All-Frontier Conference after leading the Warriors in both scoring and rebounds. She is averaging 12.8 points per game and finished third in the conference with 7.7 rebounds per game. She ranks in the top-35 in the nation in total rebounds (240). Blackman notched eight double-doubles and scored double-digit points in all but five games this season. The senior became the 19th member of the 1,000-Point Club.
Hailey Turner has also played a large part in LC's success this season and was rewarded with Second Team honors for the second year in a row. The senior was second in the conference in blocks with 30, putting her in the top-35 in the nation. She leads the Warriors in assist/turnover ratio (1.70). Turner scored her 1,000th-career point in LC's upset win over No. 4 Montana Western. She tied a career-high with 19 points, with point number 19 being her 1,000th.
As a team, the Warriors are ranked eighth in NAIA DI in assist/turnover ratio (1.16), and ninth in total assists (507). They are in the top-10 in assists per game (16.36).
William Penn (Iowa) Statesmen) – 30-2
This will be the third-straight year that the Statesmen will open play at the NAIA Tournament against a Frontier Conference team. They lost to Carroll 55-49 last season and are 0-2 in their only appearances at the Championship so far.
William Penn took both the regular season and tournament titles in the Heart of American Athletic Conference and are currently riding a 13-game winning streak. They finished conference play with a 22-2 record.
The Statesmen are led by Heart of American Athletic Conference Player of the Year Vashti Nwagbaraocha. The senior ranks third in NAIA DI in field goal percentage (.591) and is eighth in total scoring (587 points). She is in the top-15 in offensive rebounds per game (4.06), points per game (18.34) and total blocks (44).
Kate Ylitalo also earned First Team honors after finishing fifth in the nation in 3-pointers made (95). She also ranks in the top-15 in 3-point field goals made per game (2.97), 3-point field goal percentage (.419) and total scoring (527).
As a team, William Penn is seventh in the nation in both scoring defense per game (52.81) and scoring margin (20.31). They are in the top-10 in assist/turnover ratio (1.13), 3-point field goal percentage (.352), field goal percentage (.443), turnover margin (6.13) and total rebound defense (33.10).
The Details
The winner of the matchup will move on to face the winner of second-seeded Westmont (Calif.) and seventh-seeded LSU Alexandria on Friday at 9:45 a.m.
Warrior Athletics and Happy Day will host a Warrior Watch Party at Zany's in the ZPUB Loft on Wednesday starting at 12:30 p.m. Those in attendance have the chance to win Warrior and Happy Day raffle prizes. The game will also be streamed on campus in the SUB.
KOZE radio will be broadcasting the games from Billings, Mont. The link can be found on the women's basketball schedule.
Fans can stream the tournament online through the NAIA Network. Single-day passes can be purchased for $9.95, while an all-tournament package is available for $34.95.
The NAIA also released the Experience NAIA Championship App this season. Live stats, team info, etc., will be included along with push notifications of game scores and tournament updates.
The live stats link can also be found on the women's basketball schedule.
