On to the Final Four: Central Missouri cruises past Belmont Abbey in DII quarterfinals
Winning games in the final few rounds of the Division II NCAA Tournament isn’t supposed to be as easy as the Central Missouri women’s basketball team made it appear during a 65-42 victory over Belmont Abbey.
The Jennies were simply that good as they advanced past the quarterfinal round on Tuesday at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Central Missouri turned this game into a mismatch from the very beginning. It jumped out to a 17-3 lead, led 39-19 at halftime and refused to take its foot off the gas until the final buzzer.
Belmont Abbey held an early 3-0 advantage and never sniffed the lead again.
Brooke Litrell led the way for the Jennies with 17 points and 10 rebounds, but she got lots of help from her teammates in this one. Olivia Nelson also scored 17 points to go along with six assists, Graycen Holden had 10 points and Nija Collier approached a double-double with eight points and nine rebounds.
The Jennies (23-4) were so dominant that it felt strange to see them wearing black uniforms as a No. 5 seed while Belmont Abbey (24-3) was in white as the favored No. 4 seed.
Belmont Abbey entered the game as one of the nation’s best three-point shooting teams, but you wouldn’t have known it based on the way it made just two of 22 attempts from beyond the arc Tuesday.
Central Missouri held the Crusaders to 9% shooting from three-point range and 30.2% from the field.
The Jennies have now won three straight games since bowing out of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association Tournament.
They will play top-seeded Lubbock Christian in the semifinals at 7:45 p.m. on Wednesday.
No. 3 seed Drury (23-1) will play second-seeded Lander (S.C.) (20-1) in the other semifinal at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Paige Robinson, on the same day she was chosen NCAA Division II player of the year, led the Panthers in their 74-66 quarterfinal win over Charleston (W.Va.) with 18 points.
This story was originally published March 23, 2021 at 9:39 PM.