Providence women fend off Reinhardt for another trip to NAIA's Sweet 16 (2024)

GEORGE GEISE406 MT Sports

GREAT FALLS – The electronic scoreboard at McLaughlin Center on Saturday night told the only tale that really counted in the second-round game of the NAIA national women's basketball tournament: Providence Argos 80, Reinhardt Eagles 69.

But the board didn’t tell the whole story.

It didn’t reflect how the visitors from Georgia, who didn’t even win their own conference tournament, played well enough to grab a six-point lead after one quarter against the favored home team, which recently earned the Frontier Conference tourney title.

And it didn’t reflect how the underdog Eagles battled back from a 15-point deficit in the third quarter to make it a two-possession basketball game down the stretch in the fourth quarter.

And it certainly didn’t describe how a defensive change in the second quarter turned a potential upset into the Argos’ 24th victory of the season, a win that sends UP to the NAIA national tournament's Sweet 16 in Sioux City, Iowa.

The Argos, the No. 2 seed from the Naismith Quadrant, will face No. 3 seed Concordia (Neb.) at 2 p.m. (MT) on Thursday.

“That’s a good team we played,” said UP coach Bill Himmelberg, who will be taking his fifth different Argo squad to the Sweet 16 event. “They didn’t win 27 games this year without being a good team.”

The Eagles were good enough – and fast enough – to grab a 17-11 advantage after 10 minutes as sophom*ore guard/forward Maria Sanchez Ponce scored eight points, and two teammates drilled 3-pointers against UP’s normal man-to-man defense.

That’s when Himmelberg switched to a zone defense, a ploy he rarely uses.

“We play about 87 percent man, we believe in our man defense,” said the coach. “But they are very fast and they gave us trouble with their speed, so we went to a couple different zones to try to slow them down.”

The Argos forced several turnovers with their zones and finally regained the lead at 27-26 on a rebound basket by freshman forward Kenna Salave’a with 2:39 left in the first half. That sparked Providence on a 13-1 run to give the Argos a comfortable 36-27 cushion at halftime.

The UP lead grew to 15 points later in the period after a Reinhardt player was whistled for a technical foul and the Argos sank five straight foul shots.

Just when it looked like UP might win in a romp, the 6-2 Salave’a, who dominated Friday night’s playoff win with 35 points, picked up her fourth personal foul with 9:50 left in the game and headed to the bench.

The Eagles, with no big rim defender to worry about, went on the attack and outscored UP 11-2 over the next 2 1/2 minutes.

Finally, Himmelberg brought Salave’a back into the contest with 2:19 to play and her team up by just 70-66. The Argos received two key 3-pointers from freshman reserve Taliah Lee and stretched their lead to the eventual 11-point margin.

“I felt we were OK with Keanna on the bench as long as we had the lead. We’re pretty good finishers,” said Himmelberg. “When we got down inside three minutes we got her back in.”

Unlike Friday’s 67-57 victory over Eastern Oregon, when Salave’a dominated the scoresheet, the Argos spread the wealth on Saturday night. Junior point guard Ashlee Maldonado, as usual, led the way with 23 points, senior forward Maddy Dixon added 16 and Salave’a 12.

But the Argos also got huge contributions from Lee (10 points) and freshman guard Eliannah Ramirez, who tallied all seven of her points in the third quarter. Senior guard Kolby Pimperton of Belt also had a solid game with eight points and three assists.

“I’ve been saying it all year and some people don’t believe me, but we have a lot of kids who can score,” said Himmelberg.

Reinhardt got 17 points from both Sanchez Ponce and Ashley Woodroffe, and 10 more from Tarrah Gibson. The Eagles sank 11 of 24 from 3-point range, several of those coming when UP went back to man defense in the fourth quarter.

Providence (24-8) will be the No. 2 seed in its four-team bracket at nationals, and will play its first game either Thursday or Friday. The Argos have twice made it to the Elite Eight, but never further.

“All our trips (to nationals) have been special for different reasons, but this one is special for how far we’ve come since the start of the season,” said the veteran coach.

UP has five freshmen among its top eight players, and Maldonado is also new to the program after transferring from Santa Clara. Dixon is the only senior.