Horizon League

Keeps #HLWBB Championship Semifinal Roundup

March 07

#HLWBB Standings | #HLWBB Statistics
INDIANAPOLIS – IUPUI and Cleveland State advanced to the 2022 Keeps #HLWBB championship game with semifinal victories on Monday.

RESULTS

GAME	RECAP
No. 1 seed IUPUI def. No. 7 seed Oakland, 86-63	Box Score
No. 4 seed Cleveland State def. No. 3 seed Green Bay, 69-42	Box Score

 
GAME RECAPS
No. 1 IUPUI 86, No. 7 Oakland 63
By Hannah Hodge
Sports Capital Journalism Program, IUPUI

INDIANAPOLIS – The IUPUI Jaguars advanced to the Keeps Horizon League championship game for a third consecutive year with an 86-63 victory over Oakland that was led by Macee Williams’ record-setting day.

Williams, the four-time Horizon Player of the Year, made 13 of 14 shots – 92.9% -- to score 27 points. Her shooting percentage surpassed the record of 83.3% set by Krissi Davis of Notre Dame, who made 10 of 12 shots against Loyola in 1989.

The Jaguars (23-4) have won 18 of 19 games. They will meet Cleveland State at 12:00 p.m. Tuesday in an attempt to win a second league title in three seasons. The elation of the 2020 championship, the first in the history of the IUPUI women’s program, was soon followed by disappointment when the NCAA tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There is a lot on the line of being in the championship again,” Williams said, “but just from winning two years ago and not being able to go to the NCAA tournament is a little more motivation.”

Williams tied a conference tournament record of 13 field goals that was held by six others, most recently accomplished by Angel Baker of Wright State in 2021.

Williams has scored 52 points with 27 rebounds in the two tournament games this year. The conference tournament record for total points is 77, set by Tay’ler Mingo of Wright State in 2014. Williams set the record for total rebounds with 37 last year.

The Jaguars had 20 assists on 33 field goals. Senior guard Destiny Perkins had five, graduate student Madison Wise had four and sophomore Anna Mortag had four.

Senior Rachel McLimore scored 13 points on 6-of-13 shooting. Sophomore Rachel Kent scored 13 points with seven rebounds.

Seventh-seeded Oakland (15-15) was led by Kahlaijah Dean, who scored 24 points with five assists. The Golden Grizzlies reached the semifinals by defeating second-seeded Youngstown State last Thursday.

IUPUI made 58.9% of its shots. After falling behind, 23-22, after one quarter, the Jaguars limited Oakland to 30.8% shooting.

The Jaguars began to take control of the game in the second quarter, making 61.5% of their shots and holding Oakland to 23.5% shooting on the way to a 10-point halftime lead. IUPUI led by as many as 25 points in the fourth quarter.

Now the Jaguars are 40 minutes away from a chance to play in the NCAA tournament. “We have been taking it one game at a time this entire season and focusing on little things like every practice try to get better, every game we play,” Kent said. “But to have the goal here right in front of us is something special.”  

No. 4 Cleveland State 69, No. 3 Green Bay 42
By Austin Lawton
Sports Capital Journalism Program, IUPUI

INDIANAPOLIS – The Cleveland State Vikings had just secured their spot in the championship game of the Keeps Horizon League Women’s Basketball Championship in a surprisingly thorough 69-42 victory over the Green Bay Phoenix. Twelve years had passed since the Vikings made the championship game, and as this team took that step, its coach thought of the players that made this achievement possible.

“I’m thinking about the former players, that helped up build this,” Cleveland State coach Chris Kielsmeier said, “that didn’t get to experience this moment because the program’s development wasn’t quite there yet and they had every bit of part to do with this.”

The fourth-seeded Vikings (21-7) will meet top-seeded IUPUI at 12:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

To do that, Cleveland State had to defeat a Green Bay program that has appeared in 18 NCAA tournaments and presented an imposing reality: Since the Phoenix first appeared in the conference championship game in 1996, Green Bay had never gone consecutive seasons without reaching the title game.

Until now.

The Phoenix ranked seventh in the country in field-goal percentage defense (34.9%) and 16^th in scoring defense, allowing 54.6 points.

Cleveland State made 48.1% of its shots and led for 37:03. Green Bay (20-7) never had the lead.

Cleveland State succeeded without the usual contribution of sophomore guard Destiny Leo, who was held to five points, 13 beneath her average, in 32 minutes.

The step to the championship game was made with a collective effort. Senior forwards Isabelle Gradwell and Nadia Dumas each scored 12 points.

Cleveland State outscored Green Bay 17-7 in the first quarter, extending that lead to 26-9 with 4:22 left in the second quarter.

Gradwell added seven assists and four rebounds on 4-of-7 shooting. Dumas shot 5-of-10 while grabbing up six rebounds.

“I think just a lot of credit to my teammates,” Gradwell said. “I was open and they just passed me the ball and I just made it. I feel like that was really just it. I knew that this is a big game and this is a game, the past two years we’ve been here, we fell short and this is a game that I really wanted to win.”

Green Bay made just 29% of its shots, including 4-for-33 3-point shooting. Junior guard Sydney Levy led the Phoenix with eight points.

“Cleveland played really well,” said Green Bay coach Kevin Borseth. “…They played extremely well. All of their players scored, shot with a very good clip. We did not and I’m not exactly sure but we did not.”

Cleveland State and IUPUI met at IUPUI on January 29, with the Jaguars winning, 82-64.

“They’re really, really good, both ends of the floor,” Kielsmeier said. “They’re dominant defensively. They’re the worst team in the league to defend for us, the way they attack us, and they’ve got Macee (Williams), who is the world.”

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