AU women clinch 1st HCAC title since 2002
February 20th, 2008
The Anderson University women’s basketball team defeated first-place Manchester College 71-44 in the regular season finale on Wednesday night in a Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference contest at O.C. Lewis Gymnasium.
The victory clinched at least a share of the HCAC regular season title, the Ravens first since the 2001-02 season. AU can win the title outright with a Spartan loss in their regular season finale on Saturday.
However, AU (17-7, 12-4) holds the tiebreaker over Manchester (16-8, 11-4) and will be the No. 1 seed and host the six-team HCAC post-season tournament on Feb. 29 and Mar. 1.
The Ravens will have a bye in the first round and play the No. 4/5 seed winner in the semifinals on Feb. 29 at either 6 or 8 p.m. The championship game is set for 2 p.m. on Mar. 1.
Against Manchester, Tiffany Bowsher led the Ravens with a double-double. The sophomore finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, hitting 5-of-8 field goals and both of her free throws.
Mandy Seward also had 12 points to go with three rebounds, three assists and three steals, hitting 8-of-11 free throws and half of her four field goal attempts. Ellen Thompson gave the Ravens three players with 12 points and added six rebounds.
Leading scorer Kayla Martin finished with nine points, seven rebounds and Mel Hawthorne added eight points, six rebounds and three steals. Lone senior Lauren Vail finished with seven points and three assists in her final regular season home game, including a rare five-point play.
The Ravens shot 41 percent from the field, including 52 percent in the first half when they led 35-14. The Spartans finished at 29 percent shooting, including only 24 percent in the first half.
AU had a 42-32 advantage on the boards, including 12-11 on the offensive glass. The hosts also had the edge in assists (11-8), turnovers (12-18) and steals (11-5).
The key stretch in the game came over an eight minute span late in the first half when the Ravens used a 22-0 run to turn a tie game into a 34-12 lead. The lead was never under 20 the rest of the game and the Ravens led by as many as 30 points in the second half.
