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Warriors Advance To Elite Eight Semifinal

Story by: Winona State Sports Information Office


SPRINGFIELD, MA -- For the third straight season in a row No. 3-ranked Winona State University advanced to the semifinal round of the NCAA Division II Elite Eight Tournament at the Mass Mutual Center. The Warriors did it in fine fashion by defeating unbeaten Grand Valley State University, MI (36-1) 67-54.

The victory set a Warrior (36-1) single-season for wins at 36 and the 37th game they played in is also a single-season team record. Also in the process the Warriors extended their winning streak to 30 games.

It also marks the second straight year the Warriors defeated an unbeaten team in the opening round of the Elite Eight. In 2007 WSU took on undefeated Bentley, MA and came away with a victory.

The Warriors will face unbeaten Bentley, MA (34-0) in the second semifinal game March 27. Tip-off is slated for an 8:30 p.m. (EDT) start.

It was a difficult battle for the Warriors, who saw a, 13-point, 24-11, lead disappear in the last 11:28 of the first half. WSU failed to scored a point over that period and the Lakers rallied to take 29-24 lead at the intermission.

Senior, Jonte Flowes, who sat out the last part of the first half because of an injury, sparked the second-half WSU comeback by scoring the Warriors' first five points of the second period. That tied the game at 29-all at 18:52 and at 18:21 Travis Whipple netted the Warriors' sixth and seventh unanswered points for a 31-29 Winona State lead.

game would be tied one final time at 31-31 but from there WSU went on a 10-1 run for a 41-32 lead and never handed the lead back to the Lakers.

WSU put its lead up to 11 points at 57-46 with 3:55 left to play and GVSU trimmed that lead to six at 57-51 with 3:23 remaining. From there Quincy Henderson recorded a layup and the Warriors would go on to convert eight-for-ten attempts from the free throw line to ice the game.

WSU hit only 9-of-27 shots in the first half but bounced back to got 14-of-26 in the last 20 minutes of the game.

One of the big keys for the Warriors was their defense against the GVSU three-point field goal shooting. WSU held the Lakers to just 2-of-19 from three-point range for a 10.5 percent for the game.

Flowes came back from his injury to lead all scorers with 29 points, while Henderson finished with a double-double on 10 points and 11 rebounds.

Winona State is now 6-1 in its last three trips to the Elite Eight.

(Boxscore)

 

Last Modified: Thursday, March 27, 2008 11:57 by Michael Herzberg