Today: Mar 28, 2024

Owls Fall, Can Still Make Tournament

Matt GadSports Writer

Last night, Southern Women’s Basketball dropped their Northeast-10
Tournament semifinal to Bentley, 64-51.

“Bentley hit shots and we didn’t,” head coach Kate Lynch said. “I was really proud of the fight.
We had some people step up when we needed them to do it. Sometimes the ball goes in,
sometimes it doesn’t.”

Abby Hurlbert, who scored a career-high 38 points in the quarterfinal win over Southern New
Hampshire last week, was limited to just eight, including going 0-6 shooting the three.
Junior Allie Smith, who came off the bench for 12 minutes of playing time, hit two threes and
gained the Owls some momentum.

“Allie stepped up, big time. That’s what she does, though. She stepped on the court, she took a
charge. She has a lot of those intangibles and we’re certainly excited for what she can give us
next year,” Lynch said.

Africa Williams led the way with 15 points, making four of nine three-point shots. Paige Decker
and Kiana Steinauer both had 10 points and eight rebounds, with Decker tying her career-high.

“We worked really hard to get to where we are right now,” Steinauer said. “We definitely gave it
our all; tonight our shots just didn’t fall.”

The Owls, now 21-9, trailed Bentley after every quarter. They fell behind on a game-opening 7-0
run but Kate Lynch’s squad opened the second half with an 11-3 run of their own.

“They got the best of us today but we didn’t lose to a bad team. We lost to a really good
basketball team. [The tournament] didn’t end how we wanted; we wanted to win it outright but
there’s still a chance we can get into the NCAA Tournament. I went to the locker room and said
‘hey guys, it’s not over yet.’

In the other semifinal, Stonehill defeated Le Moyne, 58-55, to draw Bentley in Sunday’s
championship. They will host the contest beginning at 1 p.m.

As for the Owls, they still have a chance to secure an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament,
which will start March 9. The selection show is Sunday at 10 p.m.

“If we were to get in we’d probably play Bentley or Stonehill, depending on who wins Sunday,”
Lynch said. “It’s always that way in the East Region. But we’re okay. Yeah it wasn’t what we
wanted but we’re not upset about it. We still have a chance to keep playing.”

Photo Credit: Kevin Crompton

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