St. Francis Claims Women’s Basketball Tournament Crown
CHICAGO — No. 2 seed University of St. Francis captured its second Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Women’s Basketball Tournament championship in the past three years by upsetting top-seeded and NAIA No. 18-ranked Saint Xavier University 88-68 on Saturday afternoon at the Shannon Center.
The Saints (26-6) became the first team to solve the Cougars at home, snapping their perfect 13-0 mark at the Shannon Center as well as their 16-game overall win streak. For USF, it marked the team’s 13th straight win.
All five St. Francis starters scored in double figures with Jordan Pyle leading the way. The senior center netted a game-high 28 points and just missed out on a double-double with nine rebounds. Andriana Acosta did get the double-double for the Saints, which was her fifth in a row and 14th of the season. She totaled 20 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
Rounding out the list of double-figure scorers were Justene Charlesworth with 18 points and Hannah Swiatek and Braxtin Mickens with 10 points each.
Maia Fawcett led Saint Xavier with 15 points and six rebounds.
A fast start fueled the victory for the Saints. After Saint Xavier (25-6) scored the opening basket, St. Francis accounted for 21 of the next 25 points during a seven-minute span to open a 21-6 lead and never looked back. Saint Xavier missed all nine of its field goal attempts during that stretch.
Trailing 45-31 at the break, Saint Xavier’s only serious charge after the intermission came just after USF’s lead swelled to 18 points at 52-34 with 7:25 remaining in the third quarter. The Cougars put together a 14-2 surge over a four-minute span to get within 54-48 at the 3:26 mark of the quarter, but a traditional three-point play from Acosta got the Saints back on track, resulting in an eventual 65-53 lead at the end of the quarter. From that point on, the hosts never got the deficit lower than ten points.
Another key for the Saints was their success at the free throw line, where they went 27-for-30 (90 pct.) on the day, led by Acosta’s 12-of-13 accuracy. Saint Xavier was equally on its mark, but with less attempts (14-of-16, 87.5 pct.).
From the field, USF hit 45.6 percent of its shots (28-of-61), while Saint Xavier had four less field goals and two more attempts for a 38.1 percent reading (24-for-63). The Saints also won the rebounding battle, 42-31.
Both teams advance to the NAIA National Tournament Opening Round in two weeks by virtue of their championships – Saint Xavier captured the regular-season title – as does Indiana University South Bend after placing third during the regular season. The conference receives three automatic berths.
The Bracket Reveal for the Opening Round will be announced on Thursday at 6 pm on the NAIA Facebook page.
Final tournament results follow:
Tuesday, February 22, 2022
Game #1: No. 1 seed Saint Xavier 96, No. 8 seed Trinity Christian 69
Game #2: No. 5 seed Olivet Nazarene 78, No. 4 seed St. Ambrose 76
Game #3: No. 2 seed St. Francis 71, No. 7 seed Holy Cross 55
Game #4: No. 3 seed Indiana South Bend 72, No. 6 seed Indiana Northwest 63
Thursday, February 24, 2022 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #5: No. 1 seed Saint Xavier 107, No. 5 seed Olivet Nazarene 69
Game #6: No. 2 seed St. Francis 67, No. 3 seed Indiana South Bend 62 — OT
Saturday, February 26, 2022 (at site of highest remaining seed)
Game #7: No. 2 seed St. Francis 88, No. 1 seed Saint Xavier 68
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