Women's Basketball wins North Region Title

The Trinity Bible College's women's basketball team only has seven players, but they have put together quite a run!  For the first time in ten years, the Lady Lions of Ellendale, ND are NCCAA North Region champions. 

The Lions are 18-7 on the season, in a year that saw them start 1-4 in their first five games.  But since December, they are 17-3!  The success was formed out of a lot of hard work, a lot of effort, and a reliance on each other…the seven of them. 

The Lady Lions went into the North Region tournament as the #2 seed and received an opening round bye.  They were able to dispatch Calvary University out of Kansas City, MO by a score of 45-24.  The next round would see them face off against the host school, Maranatha Baptist University out of Watertown, WI.  Maranatha has won 20 regional championships over the last 29 years!

The championship game started out slow for the Lady Lions.  They found themselves down 16-10 after the first quarter.  Nervously enough, the Lady Lions already had two girls in foul trouble.  The second quarter was better as they turned the tables and were able to climb back into it and bring the half time score to a 26-27 deficit. 

The rest of the game was a back-and-forth battle, which culminated in a wild and crazy finish.  One starter fouled out with about 6 minutes left in the game, followed by another starter fouling out with 3 minutes left in the game.  The Lady Lions were down to their last five players.  Every time Trinity would push the lead, Maranatha would have an answer…and with eight seconds to go, Maranatha would tie the game.    

After a time out advanced the ball to half court, it was a "Dakota Connection" that would bring home the title.  Brenna Anderson (Sutton, ND) would connect with Abigail Molan (Ellendale, ND) near the left wing, who then turned and fired to a cutting Stacia West (Hayti, SD) who then hit a tough, contested runner in the lane for the win!  Ellendale's own, Abigail Molan scored a career-high 27 points and grabbed 8 rebounds to pace the Lady Lions! 

The Lady Lions entered the national tournament as the #7 seed and will play #2 Pensacola Christian College.