Missouri Western women’s basketball reaches Elite Eight with big comeback win
The Missouri Western women’s basketball team is headed to the Elite Eight and the Griffons did it the hard way.
The Griffons overcame a 21-point deficit and topped fourth-ranked Fort Hays State 70-69 on its home floor Monday night for the NCAA Division II Central Regional championship.
Not only did Missouri Western beat the top-seeded Tigers after losing twice to them in the regular season, they captured the regional title with three consecutive upset victories as the No. 7 seed in the eight-team regional.
Jaelyn Haggard led the Griffons (24-9) with 19 points, including some key baskets late in the fourth quarter. Katie Wagner led the Tigers (30-4) with 17 points.
Missouri Western scored the first basket but Fort Hays led 20-7 after the first quarter and took a 38-17 lead with 2:04 left in the second quarter.
Then the Griffons’ comeback started. They cut the deficit to 38-23 at halftime and outscored the Tigers 22-11 in the third quarter, entering the final frame down by four at 49-45.
Haggard tied the score at 60-60 with 3:43 left, then with 3:05 remaining drew a foul on Hays’ Lauren West, who was called for a technical foul. Haggard made four free throws for a 64-60 lead. Her three-pointer with with 1:17 left gave Western a 67-64 lead but Wagner’s and-one layup put Hays up 69-68 with 12 seconds left. Brionna Budgetts answered with a bucket for Western and Hays couldn’t score before time expired.
The Elite Eight starts March 21 in Birmingham, Alabama with the semifinals set for March 23 and the championship game scheduled for 7 p.m. on March 25. The eight regional champions will be re-seeded for the Elite Eight.
Northwest in regional final
Northwest Missouri men’s basketball, the reigning NCAA Division II champion, will seek its sixth Elite Eight appearance and fourth in the last five years the NCAA Tournament was contested on Tuesday night in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
The third-seeded and 10th-ranked Bearcats (30-5) face No. 1 seed and sixth-ranked Augustana (26-3) for the Central Regional title at 7 p.m. Northwest has won three of the last four national titles under coach Ben McCollum.
Johnson County women open nationals
Also Tuesday, the Johnson County Community College women’s basketball team opens the NJCAA Division II national tournament in Port Huron, Michigan. The No. 2 seed Cavaliers will face No. 15 seed Cape Fear at 2 p.m.
This story was originally published March 14, 2022 at 9:56 PM.