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Lady Crusaders Win HAAC Regular Season
March 2, 2009
Contact: Evangel University Athletics 865-2815, Ext. 7282
Thur., Feb. 28 at Ashcroft
Lady Crusaders 46
Avila 43
Springfield, Mo. — The Evangel Lady Crusaders won their seventh Heart of America conference regular season championship after a 46-43 win over Avila at the Ashcroft Center Saturday.
Evangel ends the regular season with a 20-9 record and 17-3 in the conference.
A three-pointer by Brianna Mingus gave Evangel a 44-43 lead with 2:02 remaining and free throws by Kara Blankenship with 12 seconds left sealed the win.
Mingus led all scorers with 19 points. Blankenship added 12.
Avila led 28-24 at the half, but had an 8-point lead late in the half before Evangel pulled closers and a lay-up by Ashlee Luko at the first-half buzzer pulled the Lady Crusaders within four at halftime.
Evangel continued momentum in the second half and held Avila without a field goal for more than 10 minutes of the second half. The Lady Eagles scored just 15 second half points.
Avila ended their year with a 23-6 record, 15-5 in the HAAC.
The championship is Evangel’s first since the 2004-05 season and comes in the year in which the Lady Crusaders lost three players to season ending injuries and senior center Whitney Pollard recently returned to the line-up this week with torn knee ligaments.
The Lady Crusaders will host 8th-seeded Central Methodist in the first round of the conference tournament Wednesday night at 7 p.m. at the Ashcroft Center.