Site: Grand Rapids, Mich. (Ford Field House)
Score: Madonna University 75, Aquinas College 68
Records: MU 14-14; AQ 20-10
Next MU event: Tuesday, March 2 at Davenport University (DU Student Center), 7:30pm

BOX SCORE

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (MadonnaCrusaders.com) - - Behind a career-high 24 points from freshman Shantelle Herring (Macomb, Mich.),the Madonna University women's basketball team held off a pair of furious come back attempts from a pesky Aquinas College squad to down the Saints 75-68 and advance to the 2010 Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Championship.

Herring led all players with her 24 markers while juniors Katie Mount (Waterford, Mich.) and Tabatha Wydryck (Wyandotte, Mich.) added 15 and 14 points respectively for the victorious Crusaders. Joslyn Narber led AQ with 22 points.

Madonna (14-14) fell behind by seven early on, trailing 11-4 with just over five minutes gone in the opening half. The Crusaders proceeded to go on a 12-5 run to tie the game at 16-all on a lay up from senior Kim Olech (Canton, Mich.) with 11:07 left in the game.

The Crusaders went up by three less than a minute later on a three from Wydryck to make it 19-16 but AQ (20-10) answered back to square the game at 20-20 with 8:37 left in the half. The two sides traded baskets and after AQ tied the game at 32-32, Madonna went on a 6-2 run to close the half thanks to threes from freshman Heather Pratt (Flushing, Mich.) and Wydryck to take a 38-34 lead into halftime.

Coming out of the break MU pushed the lead out to 13 points, in part due to clamping down on the defensive end and seven points from Herring over the first five minutes of the half to take a 51-38 lead with 15:10 left.

The Saints responded with a 12-0 run of their own, trimming the Crusader lead down to just a single point at 51-50 before Pratt hit a free throw and freshman Kaylee McGrath (Livonia, Mich.) knocked down a jumper in the lane to put MU back up by four, 54-50, with 9:58 to go.

Madonna pushed the margin to 11 on a pair of free throws from Wydryck with 4:22 to go to make it a 65-54 contest. Aquinas was able to trim the Madonna lead back down to four on two separate occasions but could not get any closer as Mount and Herring both made a pair of free throws to seal the win by the 75-68 final.

The Crusaders now advance to their third WHAC Championship game in the last four seasons on Tuesday night (March 2) in a 7:30pm tip-off against No. 2-ranked and top-seed Davenport University. The Crusader Radio Network presented by the Madonna University Office of Advancement will carry the game live starting with the 7:25 pre-game show.

Contact: Patrick Moore (734) 432-5834