Lions roll into NAIA quarters

The winningest season in Vanguard University women’s basketball

history continued Friday with an 82-64 victory over Oklahoma

Christian in the second round of the NAIA Division I tournament at

Oman Arena in Jackson, Tenn.

The No. 3-seeded Lions (31-2), can match last year’s trip to the

Final Four with a victory over Brescia of Kentucky (29-5) today at 2

p.m. PST.

Brescia rallied to beat Golden State Athletic Conference

representative Westmont, 43-42, Friday. The Bearcats lost to GSAC

teams The Master’s and Azusa Pacific at the GSAC Challenge held at VU

Dec. 29-30.

Vanguard, the GSAC regular-season and tournament champion, has

five wins over The Master’s and APU, by an average margin of 18.6

points.

“They’re kind of a mirror image of us,” Vanguard Coach Russ Davis,

reached by phone in Tennessee, said of the Bearcats, after his squad

pulled away for Friday’s triumph. “[Brescia Coach Marty Rowe] happens

to be a good friend and girls from both teams know each other. We’ve

seen them play and they’ve seen us, so there should be no surprises

[today].”

Davis, surprised by the way his team struggled in its first-round

win Thursday (30 turnovers), was happy with Friday’s effort, led by

junior point guard Lisa Faulkner’s 22 points and nine assists and

just three turnovers.

Faulkner, the GSAC Player of the Year and the NAIA Division I

assist leader at 10.2 per game, had seven points, six assists and

seven turnovers Thursday.

The UC Irvine transfer was 8 of 13 from the field, including 5 of

10 from three-point range Friday.

Vanguard junior Lacey Mills, the lone starter back from last

year’s Final Four entry, had four three-pointers on her way to 15

points.

Kelly Schmidt, an All-GSAC freshman forward who had 27 points and

16 boards in Thursday’s win, had 17 points and 10 rebounds against

Oklahoma Christian (20-15).

Vanguard freshman Lacey Burns had 15 points and a team-high two

steals Friday, while 6-3 All-GSAC freshman center Rachel Besse

chipped in 10 rebounds and seven points.

Freshman Lindsey McClellan, whom Davis said suffered a mild

concussion in Thursdays win and was doubtful for Friday’s game,

scored seven points in eight minutes off the bench against Oklahoma

Christian.

Vanguard shot 52% from the field in the second half, in which it

outscored Oklahoma Christian, 51-39, and finished 44.8% from the

field for the game (26 of 54).

“I thought we played a lot more like ourselves,” Davis said.

Davis believes Brescia’s defense will provide a supreme challenge.

The Bearcats are holding teams to 37% shooting from the field and

were stingy against Westmont, which led most of the game Friday.

Brescia’s Jennifer Flener hit two free throws with 11 seconds left

to finalize the scoring.

Davis, whose roster includes only eight active players, said he is

also concerned about having to play a third game in three days.

“Our girls are pretty banged up,” he said. “They went to bed early

[Friday].

“But our girls didn’t show any fatigue [Friday]. I’m really proud

of the way we played. To get to the Final Four with all the freshmen

we have would be something I’d never have guessed before this season

began, but our girls want it.”

Brescia is led by Flener, a 5-10 senior averaging 13 points and

8.1 rebounds per game, while 6-0 senior forward Kristie Ballard is

chipping in 12 points and 5.0 boards per contest.

Should Vanguard win today, it would advance to Monday’s semifinal

against either No. 2-seeded Southern Nazarene of Oklahoma (33-1) or

Union University of Tennessee (32-4).