[Women's Basketball] Mustangs drop title game, look ahead to nationals

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Top-seeded Grand View made just enough plays down the stretch and won the 2012 Midwest Collegiate Conference Women's Basketball Tournament championship with a 79-71 victory over second-seeded Mount Mercy on Monday at Sisam Arena.

It was Grand View's 18th straight win and ended Mount Mercy's 10-game winning streak. While the ninth-ranked Vikings (28-5) clinched one of the MCC's automatic bids to the NAIA Division II national tournament, the consolation prize for the 12th-ranked Mustangs (25-8) was still pretty sweet, the league's second automatic qualifying spot thanks to a runner-up finish in the MCC during the regular season.

It will be Mount Mercy's 11th national tournament overall and first since 1994-95. The Mustangs went to five AIAW national championships (1977, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982) and have now made six appearances in the NAIA Division II national tournament (1991-95, 2012). Mount Mercy reached the Sweet 16 in 1991, the Elite Eight in 1992 and 1993 and the Final Four in 1994 and 1995.

An up-tempo first half was to Mount Mercy's liking on Monday. The Mustangs led by as many as seven, 32-25, with 5:14 to go in the opening period after a layup and free throw by junior guard Brooke Quigley. The game was tied at the break, however, after all-American Jennifer Jorgensen's bucket right before intermission.

The Mustangs never led in the second half, but had their chances to take over the contest. Two free throws by senior forward Bria Fields knotted the score at 55-55 with 7:28 remaining. Amy Vos answered with a 3-pointer, however, to put the Vikings back in front by three. That started a 12-3 run by Grand View that put the game out of reach.

Greiner was one of three Mustangs with 17 points. That moved her into ninth on Mount Mercy's career scoring chart with 1,583 points, just behind Hall of Famers Meredith Austin VanderZee '04 (1,584 pts.) and Peg Loecke Harbaugh '95 (1,589 pts.). Greiner also hit three triples on Monday giving her 255 for her career, five shy of Karen Smith's school record set in 1995.

Senior guard Micha Mims, a recent member of the 1,000-point club, also had 17 points to go with seven rebounds. Fields tallied 17 points and six boards. Quigley finished with seven points, six rebounds and three steals, senior guard Laura Lippert had seven points and sophomore forward Amanda Frost grabbed 10 boards.

Jorgensen ended up with 23 points, 13 rebounds and four assists for Grand View. Nicole Wilson drained five 3-poiners during an 18-point night and Morgan Hamner chipped in 16 points. Wilson also had seven boards and Kristin Rasmussen dealt five assists.

Pairings for the 21st Annual NAIA Division II Women's Basketball National Championship will be announced on Wednesday afternoon. The tournament, which will be held March 7-13 at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, gets underway with opening round games on Wednesday and Thursday. Second round action is on Friday and the quarterfinals are Saturday. After a day off on Sunday, the Final Four will be played on Monday with the national championship game on Tuesday.