Women's Basketball season ends in Round of 16

After 2 dominant wins in Montana in the opening rounds, Georgetown advanced to Sioux City for the first time in the new NAIA Women's Basketball National Championship format. The draw was not as favorable as the Tigers drew the top seed in their quadrant, Indiana Wesleyan. Georgetown fought hard but cold shooting ultimately cost the Tigers a chance at going further. Indiana Wesleyan eliminated Georgetown with a 74-57 win to bring the season to a close.

Georgetown found itself in a 9-2 hole early but fought back. A bucket inside from Trinity Klock and a 3 from AJ Stevenson brought Georgetown back within 1 at 10-9. Trinity Klock scored with 2:32 to play to keep Georgetown within 2 at 13-11. The Tigers would not score again until the 8:03 mark of the 2nd quarter as Indiana Wesleyan led by 7 after 1.

Abby Varney snapped the scoring drought after IWU took a 12-point lead at 23-11. The lead continued to grow for IWU. The Wildcats led 32-17 midway through the 2nd before Georgetown started chipping away. Three-pointers from Stevenson and Varney cut the margin to 11. AJ Stevenson converted a 3-point play with 1:49 to go to get the Tigers within 8 at 38-30. Indiana Wesleyan hit a jumper at the horn to take a 10-point lead to the break.

Georgetown knew the start of the 3rd quarter could go a long way in deciding its chances of a comeback. The Tigers got rolling with a Sophie Smith 3 to trim the IWU lead to 7. After a turnover, Izzy Lamparty scored inside to cut it to 5 with 8:05 to play. IWU kept missing from the floor, allowing Georgetown to draw closer. Anna Long found space in the paint and made the run 7-0. Izzy Lamparty then cleaned the glass on the defensive end as Georgetown had the momentum. She then did the same on the offensive glass as she putback an AJ Stevenson miss to bring Georgetown within 1 at 40-39 with 5:56 to play as Indiana Wesleyan called for time. The Wildcats scored 4 straight to take a 5-point lead. In that moment though, they had no answer for Lamparty, who cleaned up another miss for a basket.

With 3:10 to play in the 3rd and the shot clock winding down, Sophie Smith crossed her defender with a left-hand dribble and flipped a banker home plus a foul. The free throw tied the game at 44. Georgetown got another stop and AJ Stevenson had a shot for the lead, but her 3 was well off the mark. IWU countered with a made 3 to retake the lead. Stevenson missed again from deep on the next possession. IWU scored inside this time for a 5-point lead. It proved the beginning of the end for Georgetown. Indiana Wesleyan outscored Georgetown 10-0 over the final 3:10 of the 3rd to take a 54-44 lead to the 4th.

It took Georgetown over 2 minutes into the 4th to finally get on the board. Trinity Klock scored inside on consecutive possessions to cut IWU's lead to 12 at 61-48 with 7:40 to go. The points were the last for Georgetown for over 4 minutes. In that time, IWU padded its lead to 20 and never looked back en route to the win to knock the Tigers out of the tournament.

In the final 13:10 after Sophie Smith tied the game, Georgetown was outscored 30-13 and missed 9 of 13 from the floor. Smith, Lamparty and Klock all had 10 points to lead Georgetown. Georgetown's leading scorer, Teionni McDaniel ended with 2 points on 1-11 shooting. AJ Stevenson struggled as well, finishing with 9 points on 3-13 from the floor.

The result brought a close to the college careers of 7 remarkable women who left everything they had on the floor and gave their all to Georgetown. Teionni McDaniel, Jordan Rogers, Sophie Smith, Izzy Lamparty, AJ Stevenson, Trinity Klock and Callie Jackson will always hold a special place in Georgetown as being the group that made Georgetown Women's Basketball a national program once again.