The Ferris State women’s basketball team fell in the DII Final Four versus Texas Woman’s University on Wednesday, March 27.
The No. 3 seeded Bulldogs failed to reach the DII National Championship, as they fell to the No. 2 seeded Pioneers by a score of 68-52.
Ferris started out shooting well from the field, with them leading by four midway through the first quarter, which was their biggest lead for the entire game. After the Bulldogs jumped out to their lead, the Pioneers closed the first quarter on an 11-3 scoring run and would lead 25-16 after one.
The second quarter was all Pioneers, with Ferris shooting just 3-of-15 from the field in the second and were outscored 14-6.
Head coach Kurt Westendorp knew the Bulldogs could not afford to slow down in the tournament.
“We can’t really have a cold stretch against a quality opponent in the Final Four,” Westendorp said.
The Pioneers took a commanding 17-point lead into halftime and led the Bulldogs 39-22. Ferris then cut the lead to as much as eight mid-way through the third quarter thanks to eleven third-quarter points from senior guard Mallory McCartney.
Going into the game, there was a lot of uncertainty about how much McCartney would play, as she suffered an ankle injury late in the Elite Eight game. However, the injury did not look like it affected her as she put up a team-high sixteen points and led the team with four steals and four assists.
The Pioneers dominated this game by getting to the free-throw line. Texas Woman’s outshot Ferris from the line 20-8. The Bulldogs failed to retake the lead at any point in the second half and fell in the tournament.
Although the season did not end how the team would have liked, senior forward Chloe Idoni knows what a successful season they had.
“It is clearly good for the program,” Idoni said. “We are proud that we can be a part of the team to lead this program to where it is at right now.”
The Bulldogs reached new heights this year, setting a program record for wins in a season with 26 and being the only team in program history to reach the Final Four.
McCartney wants this historic season to be the building blocks for future seasons of Bulldog basketball.
“We hoped to do more but this program is just getting started,” McCartney said. “Hopefully we have created a legacy and are making this the new standard for this program.”
With their exit from the tournament, women’s basketball finished their season with an overall 26-6 record and a 15-3 record in the GLIAC.
Westendorp recognizes how special his team was this season, not just on the court but off the court as well.
“I have coached some teams that won a lot of games but didn’t have that kind of chemistry they had,” Westendorp said. “They have such great character, this is the type of team that does reunions and they will see each other for the rest of their life.”
Ferris is graduating three seniors, McCartney, Idoni, and forward Amaka Unobagha. All three played a pivotal role in the Bulldogs’ record-breaking season, and Westendorp has nothing but praise for the three, saying that they’re “amazing people first, as well as amazing basketball players.”
CE – RS