Ohio Is For Jennies!

COLUMBUS, Ohio (March 23,2021) - Central Missouri swarmed Belmont Abbey from the get-go and had the largest margin of victory in the Elite 8 Tuesday night. The No. 5 seeded Jennies won by 23 over No.4 Belmont Abbey 65-42 to advance to the Final 4.

How it Happened
• Central Missouri shot 44% from the floor going 25-57 and 9-23 from three. The Crusaders struggled all night shooting 30% from the floor and were just 2-22, 9% from three.
• UCM forced the Crusaders into 18 turnovers and scored 20 points. The Jennies lost the ball 13 times.
• Both teams entered the game as two of the top rebounding teams in the country. The Jennies held a 37-36 edge on the glass. The Crusaders did grab 10 offensive rebounds, but were only able to turn those into four points.
• After the Crusaders started the game with a three-point play and a 3-0 lead, Central Missouri went on a 17-3 run and never trailed again. Morgan VanHyfte gave the Jennies a 5-3 lead with a three and UCM was off and running. Brooke Littrell hit an and-one and Olivia Nelson drove in with a spinning layup to cap the run.
• Belmont Abbey went on a brief spurt to start the second quarter, cutting a 14-point lead down to six, 20-14, but the Jennies responded with three straight triples, two from Nija Collier and one for Brooke Littrell as they took their largest lead of the game, 29-14. 
• The Jennies lead never got below 10 for the rest of the game. They led by 20 at the half, 39-19. Coming out of the break VanHyfte hit another three-pointer pushing the lead to 44-22. 
• Needing to get off shots, Belmont started shooting early and still wasn't finding success. UCM held them to just nine points in the fourth quarter and were happy to trade buckets as the clock was winding down.
• In the final minutes, UCM emptied the bench and the Jennies didn't need to sweat, advancing with a 65-42 win.

It Was Over When...
• The Jennies made three consecutive three-pointers midway through the second quarter just as Belmont Abbey started to get momentum. The cut the lead down to six points, but the 9-0 run gave the Jens a game-high 15 and the lead was in double-figures the rest of the way. 

Jennies Stat Leaders
• Brooke Littrell finished with a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double. She was 6-15 from the floor and hit two three-pointers.
• Olivia Nelson also scored 17 going 6-12 with a game-high six assists.
• Graycen Holden didn't miss going 5-5 with 10 points and seven rebounds.
• Nija Collier scored eight points and grabbed nine rebounds.
• Morgan VanHyfte filled the stat sheet with six points, and five rebounds with a block. 

For The Crusaders
• Brittany Autry led the team going 5-7 from the floor with 12 points. She also grabbed seven rebounds.
• Keyanna Spivey added eight points and came down with seven rebounds.
• Allie Downing scored seven points with three assists.

News and Notes
• The 42 points allowed were the fewest in a game for the Jennies this season. It's also the fewest Belmont Abbey has scored this season. 
• The two three-pointers the Crusaders made were also their fewest in a game this season.
• UCM held the Crusaders to just 42 points, the 14th time the Jennies have held an opponent below 60 points this season.
• The Crusaders failed to reach 10 points in two quarters. The Jens have held an opponent to below 10 points in a quarter in 13 games this season. It's also the 73rd time since 2016 and UCM is 66-7 in those games.
• Morgan VanHyfte grabbed career rebound number 300 and season rebound 100 in this game.
• Against ranked opponents this season the Jennies move to 5-1.
• Brooke Littrell's double-double is her ninth this season to lead the Jennies.
• All-time UCM is now 32-21 in NCAA games and 11-1 sicne 2018.
• Prior to the game, Gigi McAtee was awarded with the Elite 90 award given to the student-athlete with the highest GPA at the championship site.
• March 23, 2021 marks the four year anniversary of the Jennies 66-52 National Championship win over Ashland. 

Quotable
Dave Slifer
Opening Statement
I'd like to say that defensively, that was one of the better efforts we've had all year long. Belmont Abbey has great shooters and we were able to speed them up a little bit more than they were accustomed to. That was the plan, but things don't always go according to plan. I thought offensively we had three turnovers in the first half. We shot the ball well. We got out to a nice lead. We don't always have that in Jennie Ball, sometimes we do turn it over a few too many times, but tonight I thought we took care of the basketball. I thought that Olivia (Nelson) made play after play. I thought Brooke Littrell played very well and Morgan VanHyfte, defensively was just everywhere. She was the conference Defensive Player of the Year and there's a reason for it. She did a wonderful job of not letting them get easy shots. 

On what spurred the first half lead:
We shot the three well. We've started to do that a little bit better. Anytime you can shoot from three like that, it opens it up on the inside because they're kind of a saggy defensive teams, there wasn't a lot of room to work inside, but all of a sudden we started making some threes. We extended them out a little bit. And I can't say enough about our kids defensively. They were really running all over the court. Making sure that we didn't get crushed by that great three-point shooting team. We were hoping that maybe they hadn't seen a team quite like us. We've got a lot of six-footers that switch. And we have Olivia. We do a pretty good job of keeping ball pressure.

On Belmont Abbey trying to work the ball inside:
They do have some very nice offensive set where they duck in. They have one post-player in the high post and then the other just ducking in and that kind of takes away your help side. It poses a few problems, but Nija Collier is just a battler. She battles all the time. She does a great job. She figures out how she can use her body to make it hard on the other team's post players. She's so strong and athletic that when she keeps out of foul trouble she's a force.

On Nija Collier:
Nija was a junior college player of the year and we were very fortunate to get her and we're very fortunate to have her for one more year. We're very excited about that. She provides so any problems for the other team on both sides of the court. Offensively she can shoot the three, she can post-up and we're working on her driving game. Next year she is going to be a great driver also. On the defensive end she's just relentless and she rebounds the ball and she makes us go.

On Olivia Nelson's mental toughness:
Olivia came from a great high school program and she played AAU ball all over the country. She's used to high-level basketball. We're thrilled to have her because she never is quiet. She provides a lot of energy for everybody.

On getting freshmen to play at a high level:
We've got a great staff. Coach Nicholson who is the WBCA Assistant Coach of the Year. Coach Kenzie Kostas does a great job. Coach S, Tammy Slifer, my wife does a great job of really breaking down the game and working on it with the kids. Our staff has got a lot of experience. It's to the point where we all have individual things that we do and it's fun.

On Lubbock Christian:
Coach Gomez does a great job. He's a winner. We got him in the quarterfinals in 2018. The win that I'm most proud of. We have a saying, 'We'll play anybody, anywhere, anytime'. We go down to a tournament at St. Mary's in Texas in the fall. It's a Thanksgiving game and I noticed on the schedule we play at 5:30 against St. Mary's and then the next day we play at 1:00 against Lubbock Christian. We lost a double overtime game against Saint Mary's and we had to turn around and play Lubbock at 1 p.m. the next day. I was so proud of that team because they were tough. They found a way to get a win. It's two tired teams. Mo (Morgan Fleming) and Meg (Megan Skaggs) were juniors that year and they did a great job of making sure we got a win. Mo and Meg, this win's for you. They were two seniors from last year that didn't get to play in a regional game (due to COVID-19) and they were so disappointed. We were all disappointed and these young kids said we can do this. Lubbock Christian is amazing. They're an amazing program. Amazing coach. They don't beat themselves. Most teams find a way to beat themselves throughout the year. Any time you play a Gomez coached team you know you're in for a battle.

Olivia Nelson
On any pre-game nerves:
Yea I think there were some nerves. It's a big stage. Everybody wants to be in the Elite 8 so yes, there were some nerves. But after about the first five minutes into the game everybody calmed down and we went from there.

On the atmosphere in the Convention Center:
I don't think there were any concerns. We shot the ball well. I don't think we had any concerns about the gym.

On who she credits her mental toughness to:
I think Coach Slifer puts us in good positions to play. Coach knows what we do well and he helps put in those positions to win.

On Playing Lubbock Christian:
We haven't watched them yet. I think it's a good opportunity. Two good teams getting to play against each other is what you want. It's what you've been working all year for. We're excited. We're going to give it our best shot. 

Up Next
• The Jennies will take on the No. 1 seed in the tournament Lubbock Christian. The Chaparrals defeated No. 8 seed Daemen 66-49 in their quarterfinal round game. The Jennies and Chaps met in the 2018 Elite 8 with the Jennies coming out on top 72-62. It's the only loss for LCU Head Coach Steve Gomez in NCAA play. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. CT and will be aired live on CBS Sports Network.