St. Louis, MO 2/23/2023- It might be February but march madness came early this year. The #3-seeded Westminster College Blue Jays took on the #2-seeded Greenville University Panthers in the 2023 SLIAC Tournament semi-finals on Thursday evening. It would be a back-and-forth game from start to finish with 26 lead changes and 14 ties total. The game would be tied 79-79 with one second on the clock and the Blue Jays would have the ball on their side of the court. Olivia Hixon (Neosho, MO / Neosho) found a wide-open Shelby Kurtz (Camdenton, MO/Camdenton) wide open in the corner on an inbound pass and she would drill a three at the buzzer to send the Blue Jays to the conference championship game as they defeated the Panthers 82-79.
The two teams met inside Grant Gym at Webster University. The Panthers would start the game out by hitting a three to take a quick 3-0 lead and kicked start what would be a high-scoring quarter. The SLIAC Player of the Year Annette Ramirez (Sarcoxie, MO / Sarcoxie) would get rolling early, scoring the Blue Jays' first six points of the game. Kurtz would hit a three to put Westminster 9-5. Hixon would hit a three, giving Westminster a 12-5 lead with 6:43 remaining in the first quarter. Three of the Blue Jays' first four shots in the game were from behind the three-point arc. The Jays would extend their lead to 18-11 with four minutes left. The Panthers would then get hot from behind the arc, scoring back-to-back threes to make it 20-17. They would end the quarter on a 9-4 run to take the lead 23-22 as they headed into the second quarter.
Aly Bullock (St. James, MO / St. James) started the second quarter by hitting a three. Hixson would hit a three on the Blue Jays' next possession, her second of the game and the Blue Jays' fifth one of the game to that point. This would put Westminster up 28-23 early in the second quarter. Greenville would respond with a flurry of their own and got right back to a two-point game, 32-30 with 4:31 left in the first half. They would score a basket and a layup to tie it and there was a foul called on the shot. The Panthers would make the free throw to take the lead, 35-34. Westminster would the lead back after a jump shot from Natalie Archambault (Eureka, Mo/-). Ramirez would get to the free-throw line for two shots. She would make both to extend the lead to 38-35. Greenville would score a basket in the final ten seconds of the half to make it a one-point game. At halftime, the Blue Jays would lead 38-37.
Greenville started the second half with a 22-9 run to take back the lead and go up 59-47 and get their largest lead of the game. The Blue Jays would call timeout with 4:50 remaining in the third quarter to regain their composure as the Panthers' press started getting to them. After the timeout, the Blue Jays would go on a run of their own to not only get back in the game but regain the lead. Ramirez made a shot to make it 61-57. Hixon hit another three-pointer to put the Blue Jays down just one point at 61-60 in the last minute of the third. Hixon would get a steal that led to a fastbreak layup by Ramirez to give Westminster a 62-61 lead. The Panthers would bring the ball up the court for the final possession of the quarter and would get fouled with four seconds left on the clock. They would go to the free-throw line for two shots. They would miss the first shot and make the second to tie the game 62-62 as the game headed into the fourth and final quarter.
It would start raining threes in the fourth quarter inside Grant Gym. Hixon hit her fourth three of the game to put Westminster up 72-67 with 4:49 remaining in the game. The Panthers answered with a three of their own to make it 72-70. Kurtz would hit a three on the Blue Jays' next possession to put them back up five points. Greenville hit a three on their next possession to get back within two points. It would be the four straight three-pointers made in that stretch of the game. The Panthers would steal the ball and layup it on the other end to tie the game 75-75 with 2:52 on the clock. Greenville would take the lead at 77-7. Hixon would get fouled and headed to the line for two shots. She would make one to put Westminster down one. The Panthers would get another steal and draw a Westminster foul. They would make both free throws to go up 79-76 with 1:43 remaining. Hixon would tie the game with her fifth three of the game to make it all even, 79-79. It would still be tied with thirty seconds left and the Panthers would have the ball. Ramirez would get a steal with eleven seconds left and the Blue Jays called timeout.
After the timeout, the Blue Jays would inbound the ball to Kurtz, would dribble up the left wing, and put up a shot. A foul was called but would be on the floor, meaning it was not a shooting foul. The Blue Jays would still have the ball for a sideline out-of-bounds play. Hixon would be the in-bounder and the rest of the Blue Jays would line up in the middle of the lane. Kurtz would break free to the near side corner, and Hixon in-bounded her the ball with a one-second on the clock. She let the corner three fly and it would swish thru the net as the buzzer sounded. The Blue Jays bench cleared and rushed to Kurtz in celebration as they advanced to the SLIAC Championship game on Saturday. Westminster defeated Greenville 82-79.
Both teams deserve praise as it was a great game with a lot of big moments from each team. They would combine for 21 made threes. Greenville went 10-19 from behind the arc and Westminster went 11-21. The Panthers were 29-57 from the field, shooting 50%. The Blue Jays were 32-61, shooting 52%.
The Blue Jays were led by Ramirez and Kurtz who both had a game-high 20 points in the game. Ramirez shot 8-13 from the field and went 3-3 from the free-throw line. She would also have 6 rebounds in the game. Kurtz was 7-9 from the field and 4-5 from the three-point line. Hixson had 16 points and had a game-high 5 threes made in the game, going 5-7 from behind the arc. She would have 7 assists, 5 rebounds, and 5 steals in the game as she came up big for the Blue Jays. Archambault had 12 points and was the fourth Blue Jays to score in double figures.
The Blue Jays will face off against the top-seeded Webster University Gorloks in the SLIAC Tournament Championship game for the third straight year. The Blue Jays won in the first matchup, the Gorloks won last year, and the rubber match will be Saturday at 1:00 PM. That game will be held in Grant Gym at Webster University in St. Louis with the winner moving on to the 2023 NCAA Tournament.
