BILLINGS, Mont. – Jaidyn Lyman notched a career-high 19 points on five three-pointers, including the go-ahead three-pointer with 3:00 minutes to play to push the No. 3 seed Carroll College women to a 55-49 win over six-seed William Penn in the First Round of the NAIA National Championship at Rimrock Auto Arena at Metrapark.
The Saints outscored the Statesmen 31-11 in the second half, including an 18-10 advantage in the fourth quarter to earn the victory.
"We talked about sticking to what we do," head coach
Rachelle Sayers said. "We felt like we had a bigger bench, and our bench played critical minutes. If we could keep it close, we would be able to grind it out.
Jaidyn Lyman hit some big shots, and that was huge for us. That is what it takes at this tournament. People are going to be ready for your main players. They've scouted all of your stuff. Those complimentary players need to step up in the moment, and Jaidyn was unbelievable."
The Saints led by as many as eight points (14-6) in the first quarter, but WPU battled back to tie the game at 19 after the first quarter.
The Statesmen led 26-20 with 5:41 to play in the second quarter before Carroll cut the advantage to 26-24. Vashti Nwagbraroacha hit a shot with 43 seconds to play in the half to extend the lead to 28-24 at the break.
The Saints cut the lead to 39-37 after the third quarter. They needed a run in the fourth quarter, and they got it.
The first half of the quarter, the Saints couldn't get over the hump. Every shot Carroll made had a response from WPU, but trailing 47-46 with 3:00 minutes to play. Lyman hit a three-pointer on a kick out from
Hannah Dean to give the Saints a 49-47 lead which they would not relinquish.
Carroll built a 55-47 advantage until William Penn hit a shot in the waning seconds to cut the final to 55-49.
"It was a satisfying win because it is this team," Sayers said. "We started this year by losing our All-American, we lost another important guard, and we were picked fourth on top of it. I don't think anyone expected anything out of us and to win the conference championship, the tournament championship and to come down here and win a game, is so impressive. This team means so much to me, they work extremely hard, they don't care who gets a credit they are great teammates and they just never quit."
Carroll was 18-48 (37.5 percent) from the field, including 8-29 (27.6 percent) from the three-point line.
Hannah Dean got in foul trouble in the first half but came alive in the second to score 11 points.
Michaela Dowdy notched eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
William Penn was 18-51 (35.3 percent) from the field and 4-17 (23.5 percent) from the three-point line. Kate Ylitalo scored a team-high 17 points. Nwagbaraoacha tallied 12 points.
Another big development for the Saints was the return of senior guard
Bailey Pasta. The senior suffered a major injury in the Frontier Semifinal and missed the championship game, but returned Thursday to play 23 minutes.
"We weren't sure if she to play. Being a senior, we were going to give her every opportunity to play, and she worked her way back in there," Sayers said. "As my dad always said, 'you dance with the one who brung ya,' and she brought us here. I wanted to give her the opportunity to give her this moment. If she could go at all, then we were going to have her out there. To start her, I felt like it sent the message to our team that she is OK. I had no idea that she would play 23 minutes."
The Saints advance to the round of 16 for the first time since 2013. They face a Vanguard team that defeated Bethel 76-57.
The Lions are 23-5 on the year and lost to Westmont (Calif.) in the Golden State Athletic Conference tournament.
The game is slated for 9:45 p.m. at the Metra.
