PARK CITY, Kan. – The No. 3 seeded Montana Western Women's Basketball team defeated
the Philander Smith Panthers (Ark.) tonight by a score of 79-48 in the First Round of the NAIA
playoffs.
"Goal number one was to try to take care of business today. I thought the team certainly came
out ready to play from the get go." Head Coach Lindsay Woolley said after the win. "We wanted to try to get the ball into the paint and stop them from getting into the paint. It sounds simple, but sometimes it is kind of hard for us to do it. For the most part, I thought we did a really good job of it."
How It Happened
After grabbing two quick turnovers to kick off the game, Bulldogs' guard Jordan Sweeney got
the Bulldogs off on the right foot after she nailed a deep three.
Philander Smith's Myia Yelder answered with a three on the following possession. Despite the
quick score, the Bulldogs kept the pressure on and held the Panthers to just seven while scoring 21 in the quarter.
The Bulldogs continued on to outscore the Panthers across the second quarter 19-15 to go up at the half 40-22. Three Bulldogs were in double digits at the half, led by Shainy Mack and
Sweeney with 13 points.
Brynley Fitzgerald opened up the scoring for the Bulldogs in the third with a quick layup.
Sweeney hit her second three of the night with 6:05 to go in the third to give the Bulldogs a 48-26 lead.
Isabell Lund capped off UMW's scoring for the third quarter at 64-37 after she drew a foul and
hit a pair of free throws.
A layup from Payton Hagy with 2:54 left in the game handed the Bulldogs a 32-point lead on the way to outscoring the Panthers 15-11 down the stretch. Montana Western finished the game on top 79-48.
"Like coach said, we had three full days to get situated and comfortable. We had a good shoot
around in this awesome facility and we found the open guys tonight. Our strength this year is our depth and I think we showed that tonight." Junior Shainy Mack said following the game.
Notables
• The Bulldogs were on fire tonight, forcing 14 turnovers and capitalizing with 22 points
off of turnovers. They also tied a season high of 50 rebounds as a team.
• Montana Western outshot Philander Smith 44.8 to 27.1 percent from the field. The
Bulldogs also nailed 11 threes in tonight's game.
• The Bulldogs held the Panthers to a season low of 48 points.
• Shainy Mack hit a season high 19 points in tonight's game, alongside Jordan
Sweeney who also tabbed 19 points to lead the Bulldogs to victory. Mack added two
assists and a steal. Sweeney added four assists and two steals.
• Brynley Fitzgerald totaled 14 points and led the Bulldogs with eight rebounds, three
assists, and a steal.
Up Next
With tonight's win, the No. 3 seeded Bulldogs advance to the second-round game in Park City,
Kan. They will be taking on the winner of the No. 6 seed Mid-America Christian (23-6, 17-5)
and the No. 11 seed Sterling College (25-5, 21-1). The second-round game will be held at 5PM
MST with links for matchup below.
Live Video: Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Network (kcacnetwork.com)
Live Stats: Women's Basketball Scoreboard - NAIA Stats (prestosports.com)
