Mount
Mercy seeded sixth after loss at Viterbo
Posted
2/24/08 7:48 AM
Jessie Dirks |
LA CROSSE,
Wis. -- The Mount Mercy College women's basketball team couldn't
rebound from a poor first half and dropped an 85-60 decision to
Viterbo University (Wis.) in a Midwest Collegiate Conference regular
season finale on Saturday at R.W. Beggs Gymnasium.
The Mustangs
(10-19, 7-9 MCC) trailed 45-22 at intermission after shooting
only 33.3 percent from the floor in the opening stanza. Despite
connecting on half of their field goal attempts in the second
period, Mount Mercy wouldn't get closer than 19 points over the
final 20 minutes and allowed 80 or more points for the fifth time
in six games.
Junior guard
Jessie Dirks was the lone Mustang in double figures and finished
with a game-high 24 points and eight rebounds. Freshman guard
Heather Bachman added eight points, junior forward Katie Manning
seven, and senior forward Chelsie Patik and freshman forward Emilie
Warren six apiece.
Kari Thiel
was 5-for-5 from 3-point range while scoring 15 points for the
V-Hawks. Joni Stanek also contributed 15 points, Katie Mechling
12, and Raelyn Hayes 10. Christine Lundin hauled down six rebounds,
Mechling dished four assists, and Thiel had five steals.
Mount Mercy
is seeded sixth and will head to third-seeded Iowa Wesleyan College
(18-8, 12-4 MCC), the defending MCC tournament champs, for a quarterfinal
game in the 2008 MCC Women's Basketball Tournament on Thursday
at 7:00 p.m. at Ruble Arena in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. The Mustangs
and Tigers split their regular season series, with Mount Mercy
posting a 72-49 victory at home on Dec. 2 before suffering a 71-60
loss on Jan. 31 in Mount Pleasant.
The conference
tournament gets underway on Monday when eighth-seeded Ashford
University (9-20, 3-13 MCC) hosts ninth-seeded Clarke College
(1-29, 0-15 MCC) for the right to stay in the league playoff.
The winner will face top-seeded and regular season MCC champion
St. Ambrose University (25-5, 14-2 MCC) on Thursday. In other
quarterfinal matchups Thursday, second-seeded Grand View College
(19-11, 13-3 MCC) hosts seventh-seeded William Penn University
(15-15, 6-10 MCC) and fourth-seeded Waldorf College (17-12, 9-7
MCC) hosts fifth-seeded Viterbo.
The higher
seeds host each game as the winners advance to the semifinals
on Saturday, with the MCC championship game set for Monday, March
3. The NAIA Division II Women's Basketball Championships are Wednesday-Tuesday,
March 12-18, at the Tyson Events Center in Sioux City, Iowa.
