Finishing eighth among all NJCAA Division II teams in the country is an accomplishment and the result of the seventh place final game with Wayne County Community College (Detroit, MI).
Moraine Valley faced the No. 15 seeded Wildcats in this matchup to end their run at nationals. They just ran out of steam in the fourth quarter, taking a rare loss—81-68.
The Cyclones came out ready to play their final game together, but struggled to find their flow from the start and became sluggish as things progressed. The biggest culprit was scoring, typically not a problem for a team that averaged 85.8 points per game this season.
After the first quarter, Moraine Valley was down 16-14 in what was a physical game. They had a little spark when Erin Greenfield (seven points) entered in the second quarter and Elizabeth Coffey made some clean blocks to battle the attacking Wildcats. By halftime, the Cyclones built a 41-34 lead. However, their scoring woes continued into the second half, where they scored as many points as they did in the second quarter—27. On field goals alone, the Cyclones went 26-for-82 compared to the Wildcats' 32-for-63.
"This was not a well-played game. We didn't shoot well. We really wanted to go out on a win, but we didn't make good decisions on passes and made poor shots. The better team won," said Head Coach Delwyn Jones. "We were up at the half, but the 10-0 run by Wayne County at the start of the second half hurt us a lot. We never really recovered and reverted back to thing we did at the beginning of the season. We scored five points in a quarter. That's not us. I feel we are a much better team than we showed."
The best scoring came from free throws (13-for-20), the opposite of their first game at nationals. Hennessey Handy (21 points, seven rebounds), Gabbie Brent and Greenfield sunk all their attempts, and Ashley Hunter (14 points, four steals) went 6-for-7 from the line. Also contributing in this game were Julia Ruzevich (14 points, 10 rebounds) and Kate Ruzevich (six points, seven rebounds).
"A lot of mistakes hurt us this game. I think we were fatigued. Playing four games in a row is tough," said Hunter, who finished her second and final season with the Cyclones. "It was amazing to come down here though. We're still a great team no matter what. Just to make it down here and play with the best 16 teams in the country is good."
"An eighth place finish is an accomplishment, and to my knowledge no women's basketball team at Moraine Valley has done that. Having 34 wins and three losses, what coach would go in saying they wouldn't want that," Jones said. "I'm very proud of these ladies. They're a great group that I'll always cherish and respect."