NW Kentucky News

Panther's season ends in overtime loss to No. 5 Grand Valley State

Most teams ranked sixth in the region don't have to face the #5 team in the country in their regional opener, but in the Midwest Region, that's just how it shakes out. Kentucky Wesleyan took Grand Valley State, one of the best teams in the nation, to the wire on Friday, eventually falling 81-77 in overtime to the Lakers. 

Grand Valley State improves to 30-2 (17-1 GLIAC) and will move on to face #2 Drury in the regional semi-final tomorrow. Kentucky Wesleyan closes their season out with an impressive record of 23-7 (18-2 G-MAC). 

Down 9-5 to GVSU early, Kentucky Wesleyan showed they weren't going to go down easy, as they went on a quick 7-1 run to give them a 12-10 lead. Wesleyan kept pushing, as two layups from Shiya Hoosier and a big bucket from Tahlia Walton gave the Panthers a 21-14 lead with 1:47 left in the first quarter. Cali Nolot hit a late jumper, and Hoosier hit a stepback three at the buzzer to give Wesleyan a 27-18 lead after one. 

The Lakers came out firing in the second quarter, quickly cutting the lead to just 31-28 in favor of Wesleyan. The Panthers answered back, as Myah Montgomery and Jordan Barga hit back-to-back-to-back threes to push KWC's lead to 40-28 at the midway point of the quarter. Shaylee McDonald hit a jumper with 1:56 left in the half, and it looked like Kentucky Wesleyan was going to go into the break leading 42-34. A last second review of an out-of-bounds call gave Wesleyan the ball under their own basket with 0.4 remaining, and Jordan Barga quickly tipped in the inbounds pass from the free throw line at the buzzer to put Wesleyan up 10 at the break. 

After going just 4-31 from three in their game against Trevecca last week, Kentucky Wesleyan shot an incredible 6-10 from behind the arc in the first half against Grand Valley State. 

The teams went back-and-forth to open the second half, with Cali Nolot hitting a layup to put Wesleyan up 50-37 midway through the third. Reeva Hammelman hit a couple of big free throws late, but Grand Valley slowly inched their way back in it, and only trailed 55-47 with 10 minutes remaining. 

Grand Valley State looked like they were going to come back and take over early in the final quarter, as they hit the first two buckets of the frame to cut the Panther lead to just four. Shaylee McDonald would have none of that, however, as she buried a three to extend the Wesleyan lead back to seven. Back-to-back buckets by Shiya Hoosier and Cali Nolot put the Panthers up 66-60 with 3 minutes remaining, but GVSU hit one of their just three three pointers on the next possession to keep the game within reach. Reeva Hammelman came in clutch with two free throws, but Grand Valley State would hit a jumper and make a few free throws late to tie the game up. Cali Nolot saw her game winning layup attempt fall just short, and the game went into overtime. 

Grand Valley State took control early, scoring five points on their first three possessions to go up 73-68 with 2:15 left in the game. Coming up clutch again was Reeva Hammelman, who hit a big three to cut the Laker lead to just two. Cali Nolot followed that with a layup of her own on the next possession, and the game was tied at 73-73 with 1:14 to go. The Laker's Ellie Droste came down and made a layup, and after a missed three, Wesleyan was forced to foul. Grand Valley State hit their free throws late to seal with four point victory. 

Kentucky Wesleyan shot 29-69 (42%) from the field and 8-19 (42.3%) from three. Grand Valley State went 27-60 (45%) from the floor, and just 3-18 (16.7%) from three. Free throws were the difference in the ball game, as GVSU hit 24 of their 32 attempts, while Wesleyan hit 11 of their 14. 

Playing in her record 140th game in a Panther uniform, Cali Nolot went out strong, finishing with 18 points, three rebounds, and two assists. Shiya Hoosier added 14 points, while senior Tahlia Walton chipped in 10. Reeva Hammelman was all over the court, scoring nine points while collecting three steals, five rebounds, and two assists. Hoosier led with three assists, Corina Conley, Hammelman and Walton all tallied five rebounds, and Hoosier, Hammelman and Conley each piciked up three steals. 

After yet another strong season, Head Coaches Caleb and Nicole Nieman now have a career record of 258-113 (.695). This was their sixth 20+ win season, and their fifth NCAA Regional appearance. 

Original source can be found here.