CHARLESTON, W. Va. – Urbana University’s season came to a crash ending on Thursday in the MEC women’s basketball quarterfinals after suffering an 86-43 defeat to Notre Dame College. The Blue Knights finish the season with an overall record of 12-15, an 11-game improvement from a year ago.
Sixth-seeded UU – which defeated Notre Dame at home last Saturday – couldn’t buy a basket at the Charleston Civic Center, as the Falcons used their size to hand UU its worst loss of the season. The Blue Knights posted their lowest point total of the season, while suffering the worst margin of defeat in the MEC tournament’s brief history.
“We knew coming in that it was going to be tough,” UU head coach Haley Ducey said. “We’re small and with the absence of Tori (Purk), we knew we faced an uphill battle on the boards. Notre Dame took advantage of our lack of size, and they’re a great team with a ton of experience.”
UU felt the biggest blow on the boards, as NDC pulled down a tournament record 63 rebounds. Additionally, the Blue Knight shooters were held to a season low 27-percent shooting mark.
Point guard Kennedy Boggs led UU with 15 points in her final game. The senior also dished out six assists and grabbed three boards. Freshman Megan Beachy hit three 3-pointers to finish with the team’s second-most points with nine.
UU trailed 14-6 after one quarter, despite making only two field goals on its first 12 attempts. Beachy drained her first trey to make it a four-point game at 10-6 with 3:07 left in the opening period.
Unfortunately, that was about it for the Blue Knights during the first half. NDC sparked an 8-0 run after UU opened the second quarter with four straight turnovers, and the Falcons ended up out-scoring UU, 36-12, at halftime. UU’s 12 first-half points were also a tournament-record low.
Boggs banked in a three at the third quarter buzzer, but UU never got back to within fewer than 20 points of the Falcons.
NDC’s Martha Nagbe led the Falcons with 21 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists. The Falcons shot 43 percent on 78 total shot attempts.
