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The Official Site of the Crossroads League
March 3, 2015

#7 MARIAN WINS FIRST-EVER CROSSROADS LEAGUE TOURNEY TITLE

The No. 7-ranked Knights earned their first-ever league tourney title and automatic bid the national tournament on Monday.
INDIANAPOLIS - After completing her first season as head coach of the Marian University women's basketball team, head coach Katie Gearlds stated her goals were to set a new wins record for the program, earn a league title and head to the national tournament. Check, check and check.

After surpassing the program wins record last month, the No. 7 and second-seeded Marian University women's basketball team won its first-ever Crossroads League Tournament championship over No. 22 and fourth-seeded Huntington University, 63-59, on John Grimes Court at the Physical Education Center on Monday night.

For the first time in program history, the Knights hosted the league tournament title game and earned its first-ever automatic bid to the 2015 State Farm NAIA Division II National Championship in Sioux City, Iowa beginning on March 11. Top-seeded Indiana Wesleyan University, which was knocked out of the tournament by Huntington on Friday, earned the other automatic bid for the league with the regular season title.

Senior Kaylee Walters paced four Knights in double figures with a team-high 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while sophomore Jenna Sullivan added 15 points and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Sophomore Jessica Almeida and junior Lakan Hasser-Smith each added 10 points for MU.

Huntington's Amelia Recker tallied a double-double with 13 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, while Courtney Baker added a game-high 17 points and nine boards. Miranda Palmer added 16 points for the Foresters as they climbed back from a 12-point second-half deficit.

The Knights (28-5) will learn their opponent for the first round of the national tournament on Wednesday, March 4 when the NAIA announces the pairings for the tournament. The Wildcats and Knights are hoping to be joined by the defending NAIA DII national champion Saint Francis (Ind.) as well as Huntington in the field of 32. The 32-team field, the seedings and the pairings will be announced at NAIA.org.

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