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SIOUX CITY, IA -- In the second round of the NAIA Division II Womens National Tournament, a packed Tyson Events Center witnessed No.1 seed College of the Ozarks defeat No. 4 seed and home favorite Morningside College 94-72.
Ozarks will advance to Saturdays quarterfinals game against No. 3 seed Indiana Wesleyan University. The game is schedule for 6 p.m.
College of the Ozarks was lead by four scorers in double figures. Sophomore Maranda Vaught had 20 points, freshman Morgan Smith and senior Emily Bell each had 12, and senior Melissa Duval finished with 11.
"We shot the ball well tonight," said George Wilson, Ozark head coach. "Maranda has had good games and stinker games. Tonight wasnt one of those."
Junior Tanaeya Worden led Morningside with 26 points.
It was a tough loss for the team, but that their six seniors have nothing to be ashamed of said Jamie Sale, Morningside head coach.
"Its a hard way to lose," he said. "But I told our seniors that they have that national championship (from 2009) and nobody can take that away from them."
Play was back and forth early in the game, until Ozarks broke with 12-point lead with 3:36 left in the first half. Ozarks went into halftime with a 45-39 lead.
Morningside finished the game shooting 32 percent from the field and 31 percent from behind the arc.
On the other side, Ozark shot 54 percent, from the field and 58 percent from the arc.
Vaught was surprised with her teams offensive effort. "We came out slow in our last game," she said. "We knew we had to come up with something. We just played our hearts out."
Ozarks also out rebounded the Mustangs 54-31. Statistically, the only notch for Ozarks in the matchup was committing 25 turnovers.
"We had a lot of turnovers, but it didnt seem like it," Wilson said. Morningsides loss adds to a day that the GPAC would like to forget at the national tournament. Earlier in the day, Grand View upset No. 1 seed Hastings College. Indiana Wesleyan defeated Concordia University in the first round of the tournament.
Northwestern College and Briar Cliff College are the only remaining GPAC teams.
