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BILLINGS, Mont. – No. 20-ranked Central Methodist University fell to No. 4 Lindsey Wilson in the second round of the 2017 NAIA Division I Women's Basketball National Championship, presented by Wells Fargo, 72-89. Battling through some adversity during the season, Central Methodist ends their season with the record of 24-10.

From the tip-off CMU brought the energy and hustle to help them off to a quick start, leading the top-seeded team in the Cramer Bracket for the majority of the first quarter. DaJonee Hale (JR/Anchorage, Alaska) came out firing on all cylinders, hitting all her field goals, including 3-for-3 from beyond the arc for 11 points. Hale would go on to score a team-high 26 points, hitting 9-of-13 field goals, 4-of-5 behind the arc, while tallying three rebounds and two steals.

Momentum swung back and forth for the teams in the second quarter, as CMU trailed, but kept the Blue Raiders within range. A three-pointer by Lexie Moe (SO/St. Peters, Mo.) with 2:51 left in the first half, brought CMU within four points. The teams traded baskets, but with a three-point buzzer beater from J'Nayah Hall of Lindsey Wilson, CMU went into the locker room trailing 38-31.

Hale led all scorers at the break with 13 points. CMU shot 55% (12-of-22) from the field and 67% (4-of-6) from beyond the arc. Jerica Nelson (SO/Kodiak, Alaska) led all rebounders with five going into intermission.

But turnovers hurt the Eagles in the first two periods, as they committed 16, compared to only four for the Blue Raiders.

"I think we played an extremely talented team today," said CMU head coach Mike Davis later. "I thought we did a lot of things at a high level. We turned the ball over a little more than we needed to in the first half and that allowed (Lindsey Wilson) to get some confidence by those turnovers."

Coming out of the locker room, Moe picked up some of the scoring load and dropped in seven of her 16 points in the third quarter for CMU. But much like the first half, turnovers and offensive rebounds cause CMU to fall behind 51-64 heading to the fourth and the Eagles couldn't recover.

The Eagles ended the game shooting 51% from the field and 46% from deep, while Lindsey Wilson only shot 41% from the field and 30% from behind the arc. Turnovers by the Eagles and second-chance points were the difference in the game. The Blue Raiders scored 32 points off of 24 CMU turnovers, while Lindsey Wilson did not turn the ball over in the second half and finished with four for the game. The Eagles scored six points off turnovers.

Central Methodist outrebounded Lindsey Wilson 37-34, but the Blue Raiders tallied 17 offensive boards, compared to eight for the Eagles. LWC scored 20 second-chance points, while CMU posted 10.

Moe added seven rebounds to go with her 16 points and Jerica Nelson pitched in 14 points to go with 6 assists. Paige Albrecht (SR/Yakima, Wash.) pulled down seven boards.

Lindsey Wilson improved to 32-2 on the year and will move on the quarterfinal round of the tournament, squaring off with No. 2-seed Oklahoma City University, which topped Montana Western, 81-79, in another Sweet 16 game on Friday. The quarterfinal will be played at 3 p.m. CST Saturday.

The season ends for Central Methodist, but Davis said he was proud at the way his squad battled back and played well late in the year.

"This is a team that started off the season at a really, really good pace," Davis continued. "We lost of a couple of kids to injury and we had a little hiccup in the middle of the year. But we improved right at the end of the season and did a good job getting in the tournament and got a really good win against Biola.

"We still have some work to do and things we get better at and we'll work to try to get back here next season."

2017 NAIA DIVISION I WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
March 15-21
Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark, Billings, Mont.
CRAMER BRACKET
First Round
Wednesday, March 15
#1 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 63, #8 Martin Methodist (Tenn.) 52
#5 Central Methodist (Mo.) 52, #4 Biola (Calif.) 49
#2 Oklahoma City 73, #7 MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 63
#6 Montana Western 63, #3 Columbia (Mo.) 53

Second Round
Friday, March 17
#1 Lindsey Wilson 89, #5 Central Methodist 72
#2 Oklahoma City 81, #6 Montana Western 79

Quarterfinals
Saturday, March 18
Cramer Bracket Championship
#1 Lindsey Wilson (32-2) vs. #2 Oklahoma City (30-2), 3 p.m. CST

CMU Women's Basketball Contacts: John Kruger / Uyen Tran
Phone: 936-332-9332 | jkrueger@centralmethodist.edu
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CMU Women's Basketball: Twitter

Website: www.CMUEagles.com