KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Ashley Tull made a layup with 0.4 seconds remaining in overtime to give No. 10-ranked Central Missouri Jennies basketball a thrilling 66-64 win over the Fort Hays State Tigers in the MIAA Women's Basketball Championship semifinals Saturday, March 4, inside historic Municipal Auditorium.
The Jennies (25-3), who are the No. 2 seed in the tournament, advance to the MIAA Championship game with the victory and will take on No. 5-seeded Missouri Southern (26-6) Sunday, March 5, at 3:30 p.m. in downtown Kansas City, Mo. Saturday's win also marked the 400th victory for 19th season Jennies head coach
Dave Slifer, who moved his career record at Central Missouri to 400-169.
After Fort Hays State's Katie Wagner converted a layup with seven seconds to go in overtime to tie the game at 64, Tull corralled a lose ball under the basket and laid it in just before the final horn sounded, cementing the 66-64 win.
Tull finished the game with 14 points on 7-of-10 shooting from the field and pulled down nine rebounds while
Olivia Nelson scored a team-high 20 points on 7-of-19 shooting and a 4-of-4 performance at the free-throw line and dished out four assists, pacing the Jennies in the game.
Cierra Smith (10 points) and
Brooke Littrell (10 points) also scored in double figures for UCM, with Littrell snagging a game-high 12 rebounds for her 11th double-double of the season and Smith tallying three steals.
For the game, Central Missouri was 26-of-64 from the floor for 41 percent and 10-for-16 at the free-throw line for 62 percent. The Jennies outrebounded the Tigers (20-12), 40-35, and outscored Fort Hays State in the paint, 36-24.
Wagner led the Tigers with a game-high 25 points on 8-of-16 shooting from the floor.
Â
