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Western Illinois University Athletics

EZ
Richard Carlson/Inertia
49
Western Ill. WIU 14-15,5-12 Summit League
75
Winner South Dakota SD 25-5,17-1 Summit League
Western Ill. WIU
14-15,5-12 Summit League
49
Final
75
South Dakota SD
25-5,17-1 Summit League
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Western Ill. WIU 15 11 11 12 49
South Dakota SD 21 20 16 18 75

Game Recap: Women's Basketball | | WIU Athletic Communications

Turnovers Plague Leathernecks in Quarterfinal Loss

After a 14-14 regular season, Western Illinois fell in the quarterfinals of the Summit League Tournament.

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – The Western Illinois University Fighting Leatherneck women's basketball team played on Saturday (March 5), falling 49-75 to South Dakota in the quarterfinals of the 2022 Summit League Tournament. Saturday's loss marked the end of the 2021-22 season for Leatherneck women's basketball, who ended the year 14-15.
 
"It's always a tough time of year because these players put their heart and soul into the sport. Everyone thinks about the physical effort, but the mental energy that they put in is just off the charts. We had a tough year – some things of our own volition but a lot of things externally that seemed to be unlucky and so I was proud of the way this team hung together," head coach JD Gravina said. "It was one of my more enjoyable years and teams to coach which I think is saying a lot with all of the challenges… at the end of the day I'm proud of this team and I'm already really excited for next year."
 
Western Illinois' offense got out to a strong start, shooting 7-13 (53.8%) in a first quarter that was controlled by Danni Nichols. Nichols scored nine points and grabbed two rebounds in the period, making 4-6 from the field and 1-1 from deep. Despite the strong shooting, Western trailed by six. The offense cooled down in the second, as Western struggled to maintain possession and ended the period with five turnovers. When the halftime buzzer sounded, Western trailed by 15, 26-41.
 
Nichols and Elizabeth Lutz had strong third quarters and combined for nine points, shooting 4-7 from the field. Lutz finished a breakaway layup after stealing an errant USD pass and later converted through traffic and drew a foul, but the South Dakota offense started to find a rhythm from deep. The Coyotes hit three from beyond-the-arc in the period and outscored Western by five, extending their lead to 20 by the end of the quarter. During the final period of play Western shot the ball well but continued to struggle with maintaining possession. Kennedy Flanagan had a strong quarter, finishing with five points and three rebounds in six minutes of action, but South Dakota led 49-75 when the final horn sounded.

Danni Nichols led the Leathernecks in scoring with 17 points, making 6-13 from the field and grabbing three rebounds. Evan Zars finished with 10 points and five rebounds, also recording one steal and a block. Kennedy Flanagan finished with seven points and four rebounds on a perfect 3-3 shooting (1-1 from deep), while Jada Thorpe scored six. Anna Deets scored five (3-3 from the line), Elizabeth Lutz finished with four points, five rebounds and two steals, and Alissa Dins finished the game with three rebounds and one steal.
 
The Leathernecks as a team shot 19-45 (42%) from the field, making three shots from deep and eight at the line while grabbing 26 rebounds. Western's offense was bolstered by 12 points from the bench, while the team scored 32 in the paint and six second-chance points. The defense finished with four steals and one block. Western struggled to hold onto the ball, finishing with 24 turnovers.
 
"Coaches can talk about how much they love their team and how they're a family and it's kind of cliché, but it's just so difficult mentally to be intentional about getting along and having fun and this team did a great job at that," Gravina said. "From a basketball perspective I feel like we were really close – if you look at our non-conference results you'll see that we… had some really good wins and had some good wins in conference too. We rallied to be North Dakota and North Dakota state on the road so I think the thing we take away is the fact that there isn't much room for error."
 
Western Illinois has officially concluded its 2021-22 season and will return to action next fall for another season of Leatherneck women's basketball.
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