Brackets

Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Semifinals
#3-seed Central Methodist (22-8) at #2-seed MidAmerica Nazarene (25-3)
Saturday, March 8 - 7 p.m. CT
Olathe, Kan. - Bell Family Arena
Live Video, Audio, Stats: CMUEagles.com
Twitter:�@cmueagles

FAYETTE, Mo. - Central Methodist, the three-seed in the Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament for a third-straight season, travels to No. 2-seed MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.), ranked 14th in the country, on Saturday for the semifinal round. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. CT.

Live video, audio, stats and Twitter updates will be available Saturday.

2013-14 Season Series: MNU 61, Central Methodist 59 (Jan. 18, 2014 - Fayette, Mo.); MNU 80, Central Methodist 72 (Feb. 22, 2014 - Olathe, Kan.)

About the Eagles: The roller coaster ride of momentum swings for Central Methodist in its first round game against Graceland on Wednesday resembled the last month of the season for head coach James Arnold. The Eagles won four-straight games in early February, followed up by three-consecutive losses. The win on Thursday gives CMU three-consecutive victories headed into a rematch with the Pioneers, a team that knocked off the Eagles in last season's title game. The Eagles fell behind by 10 and 8 points in the first and second halves, respectively, against the Yellowjackets before stringing together scoring runs that flipped the game back in its favor and finished with a 19-6 run to take control of the game. The Eagles bring plenty of backcourt experience into the game as Kyra Williams and Nakia Robinson have combined to play in 200 games in their careers and provided the much-needed leadership against the Yellowjackets with a total of 41 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists. They will need to be at or near their best again on Saturday as the Eagles look to return to the title game.

About the Pioneers: MNU was another team to face an opponent for the second time in less than 10 days when Peru State was its first round adversary on Thursday. The Pioneers took control of the game with a 9-0 run during the first half, led by 15 at halftime and pushed the lead to 21 points on the way to a third-straight semifinal round appearance. The Pioneers weren't at their best against the Bobcats, matching a season-high of 25 turnovers, allowing 16 offensive rebounds, and recording its second-lowest offensive output of the season. None of those statistics will matter when the next game tips off against Central Methodist, a team that has given MNU some of its biggest tests over the last three seasons. The difference in the regular season contest with Central Methodist on its home floor was turnovers as MNU forced 20 takeaways that led to 24 points. The Pioneers also grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and scored 42 points in the paint. The Pioneers have only hit three shots from beyond the arc against the Eagles this season, but have been able to get plenty of offense from its mid-range shooting as well as in transition.

Free Throws: Central Methodist has scored 83.7 points in its last 10 victories, but held to 63.8 points in its last five defeats ... MNU has held its last four opponents to an average of 51.5 points and allowed a combined field goal percentage of .316 (71 of 225) ... Eagles G Kyra Williams has tallied 15.3 points over her last three games in the HAAC Tournament dating back to last season ... Pioneers F Kelsey Balcom has averaged 14.4 points in five career games against Central Methodist.