MC Women Win HCAC Tourney; Heading To Nationals
07 Mar 2008

Manchester College won their third straight women’s basketball conference tournament championship Saturday following a 52-50 win over Anderson. Manchester’s Sarah Bose connected on an 18-foot baseline jumper with 0.9 seconds remaining to give Manchester the victory, mirroring the previous two HCAC Tournament championship games where Manchester posted a 67-65 win over Franklin in 2006 and a 70-69 win over Transylvania in last year’s tournament.
“Coach (Josh Dzurick) drew up a play for Kelley (Meiklejon) and me on the left side, and if I wasn’t open, I was supposed to get the ball to Kelley,” Bose explained. “I just felt like I had it.”
“I’m so proud of this group,” Dzurick said. “I keep going back to my seniors, and I know everybody contributes to the success of this team, but Sarah (Conwell) and Jess (Henn) have done so much for this program. As a coach, you just want them to go out with another tournament."
Manchester was looking for revenge against a team that defeated them 75-44 a weak earlier.
“When we played them the first time last week, it gave us a sour feeling leaving here, and we kept that in the back of our minds,” Meiklejon said. “We knew we had to come out strong, and we were ready to play, and so enthused to come here and run them out of the gym.”
“It feels amazing to come in here wanting to prove ourselves that we are better than what we showed last week,” Henn said. “It really showed on the court. It was a great team effort.”
Manchester held a 36-21 advantage at halftime, and after going up 17 early in the second period, the Spartan offense cooled off. A Bose jumper with 13:51 left in the game would be the last successful field goal until her game-winner with under a second remaining. Manchester remained in the game by hitting 10-12 free throw attempts in their drought, and fought off an Anderson surge that included a 17-5 run over the last seven minutes to tie the game at 50-50 with 17 ticks on the clock.
On the final play, Bose and Meiklejon set up a screen and roll. Bose’s defender doubled on Meiklejon, leaving Bose open for the game winning jumper.
“I looked in everyone’s eyes at the end, and I felt like we were definitely going to win,” Conwell said. “Bose does that step back jumper all the time, and thank goodness it went in.”
Bose ended the game with 11 points, four assists and three steals and was named the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament. Kelley Meiklejohn and Kailey Honn added eight points each. Honn was 3-4 from the field and added seven rebounds while Meiklejohn added six rebounds. Jessica Henn, Sarah Conwell and Kristen Lancaster added seven points apiece. Both Meiklejohn and Henn were named to the All-Tournament team.
“These games just don’t get any easier,” says Dzurick, who improves to 61-23 as a head coach. “Anderson did a good job of being aggressive defensively in the second half, but we were able to keep our focus and make free throws when they mattered most. It’s a great win for our seniors and our program.”
“Winning a game in the national tournament has been a goal all season,” Conwell said. “It’s something that hasn’t been done yet.”
Manchester improves to 19-8 overall, and earns the HCAC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
Win Over Transylvania
Kelley Meiklejohn’s 17 points helped the Manchester College women’s basketball team advance to their third straight HCAC Conference Tournament championship game as the Spartans downed Transylvania 69-58 Friday night.
Manchester jumped out to a 19-8 lead with 11 minutes to go in the first half and were up by 14 with less than a minute to go before Transy scored five straight to close the half with a 36-27 Manchester lead. The Pioneers pulled to within two points, 50-48 with 10:51 remaining, but MC used an 8-0 run to gain a 10 point advantage and held on for the 69-58 win.
Jessica Henn and Sarah Bose added 14 points apiece for Manchester. Henn was 5-8 from the field with five rebounds and a pair of blocks and a steal, while Bose connected on 6-12 shots and added five rebounds, four assists and four steals. Meiklejohn added nine rebounds to go with her 17 point performance.