Joplin, MO -- This morning, the North Central University (NCU) women's basketball team continued their journey in the NCCAA championship tournament against Campbellsville University Harrodsburg (CUH). After a tough loss the day prior, the #5 seeded Rams would have a shot at the fifth-place game with a win in this early morning match-up. The #8 seeded Pioneers faced a close overtime contest the day before and would experience another nail-biter today. A career-high 31-point performance from sophomore Kaitlyn VanderPloeg would secure Downtown U the 85-82 victory.

The game started with a heated battle between the two squads. VanderPloeg would assert her dominance early, scoring NCU's first 6 points of the contest, all from the paint area. The Pioneers would respond with a 7-0 run to give themselves the lead. After the strong response from CUH, the Rams would trail by 5 after the first quarter. Heading into the second, VanderPloeg would continue her strong play to keep her team within striking distance. Caitlyn Ryan would do a nice job of getting herself to the FT line and would reclaim the lead with 3:33 to go in the half. Spark plug Mia Mabanag got in on the action with a pair of pull-up jumpers down the stretch. However, defensively the Rams would allow Pioneer guards Oriona Woods and Jaiden Douthi would combine for 27 points in the first half. NCU would head into halftime leading 37-34.

Coming into half number two, the Blue and Gold would need to tighten up on defense to eliminate the hot hands of Woods and Douthi from CU Harrodsburg. Starting to become a reoccurring theme in this game, VanderPloeg would open up the second half scoring with 6 straight points for the Rams. With buckets from Piper Flemming, North Central would open up their largest lead of the game of 15 points with just under 5 minutes to play in the quarter. Not backing down, the Pioneers were able to convert fast break buckets and close out the third quarter only down by 8 points. NCU would have a comfortable lead through much of the fourth, until the final 2 minutes of the game when things would get rather interesting. A combination of missed free throws by the Rams and a pair of clutch 3-point baskets from CUH, allowed the Pioneers to bring the game to within 1-point with 3 seconds to play. However, a pair of made free throws from Lydia Schroeder would seal the deal. North Central shot almost 50% in the paint in this morning's matchup and their continuous momentum proved to be too much for the Pioneers. Kaitlyn VanderPloeg had a monumental game, shooting 73.7% and stacking over a third of the Ram's points. As the buzzer sounded, NCU would walk away with the 85-82 victory.


Top Performers:

Kaitlyn VanderPloeg (Clear Lake, IA): 31 points and 4 rebounds
Mia Mabanag (Danville, CA): 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists
Caitlyn Ryan (Papillion, NE): 10 points, 9 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 blocks
Piper Flemming (Saint Paul, MN): 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists


Looking Ahead:

NCU Women's Basketball will play #3 Ozark Christian, tipping off tomorrow at 11 a.m. CT. NCU will have a chance to finish 5^th in the NCCAA National Tournament.

All fans are encouraged to tune into the official Rams Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter pages for all your up-to-date basketball information and news.